poledriver
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Police dogs sniff out drugs at the Parklife music festival
POLICE caught 46 people with drugs at the Parklife music festival.
Acting Sen-Sgt Mark Pilkington said drug sniffer dogs made their detections in the first six hours of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl show yesterday.
But unlike similar events, those caught with drugs did not have their festival tickets confiscated.
"It's been a combination of things - ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamine, ice and cannabis," Acting Sen-Sgt Pilkington said.
"It's always disappointing to find people bringing illicit drugs to these types of events, but history tells us that's what's going to happen, so yeah we are disappointed."
He said the Passive Alert Detection (PAD) dogs were highly skilled and would not be fooled by creative techniques to hide drugs.
“PAD dogs are highly skilled at detecting drugs and have a sense of smell which is 50 times greater than humans.
“People should expect to be caught no matter how well hidden the drugs are.”
Several people who attempted to evade police by going to nearby portable toilets were followed by the dogs.
At one point up to six officers chased a man as he attempted to flee after seeing the police truck at the festival's entrance.
Police eventually caught him at a tram stop on St Kilda Rd, near the Arts Centre.
Acting Sen-Sgt Pilkington said there was no figure on what percentage of people detected by the dogs were carrying drugs.
"We do search some people who don't have drugs on them, however that doesn't mean that a negative indication has been made," Sen-Sgt Pilkington said.
"The person may have already consumed the drugs or been in an area where drugs were."
Sen-Sgt Pilkington said most of those caught would enter a diversion program unless they had prior offences.
http://www.news.com.au/national/par...gs-into-parklife/story-fndo4cq1-1226489624942
POLICE caught 46 people with drugs at the Parklife music festival.
Acting Sen-Sgt Mark Pilkington said drug sniffer dogs made their detections in the first six hours of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl show yesterday.
But unlike similar events, those caught with drugs did not have their festival tickets confiscated.
"It's been a combination of things - ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamine, ice and cannabis," Acting Sen-Sgt Pilkington said.
"It's always disappointing to find people bringing illicit drugs to these types of events, but history tells us that's what's going to happen, so yeah we are disappointed."
He said the Passive Alert Detection (PAD) dogs were highly skilled and would not be fooled by creative techniques to hide drugs.
“PAD dogs are highly skilled at detecting drugs and have a sense of smell which is 50 times greater than humans.
“People should expect to be caught no matter how well hidden the drugs are.”
Several people who attempted to evade police by going to nearby portable toilets were followed by the dogs.
At one point up to six officers chased a man as he attempted to flee after seeing the police truck at the festival's entrance.
Police eventually caught him at a tram stop on St Kilda Rd, near the Arts Centre.
Acting Sen-Sgt Pilkington said there was no figure on what percentage of people detected by the dogs were carrying drugs.
"We do search some people who don't have drugs on them, however that doesn't mean that a negative indication has been made," Sen-Sgt Pilkington said.
"The person may have already consumed the drugs or been in an area where drugs were."
Sen-Sgt Pilkington said most of those caught would enter a diversion program unless they had prior offences.
http://www.news.com.au/national/par...gs-into-parklife/story-fndo4cq1-1226489624942