Sniffer Dogs Barking Up Wrong Tree

[Stoner4Life]

The drug sniffer dog program is an expensive waste of money that fails to catch serious drug dealers but manages to embarrass thousands doing nothing wrong, a NSW Ombudsman investigation has found.

The Government believes the dogs interrupt the supply of illegal drugs, but the two-year investigation found they stop three times as many people who are not carrying drugs as those who are.

During the study, 10,211 people were stopped at train stations, in pubs and on streets - but only a quarter of those searched were carrying illegal drugs.

Almost all of those were carrying cannabis, and mostly in small amounts, with ******* and heroin discovered on fewer occasions than prescription drugs.

The Drug Detection Dog Unit cost $870,000 in 2002-03, but over the study period, just 19 people were convicted for supplying drugs. Most of those were carrying drugs for their friends rather than for sale, the report found, with only three sentenced to periodic detention.

The Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, made 55 recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the program, but questioned the worth of keeping the enabling laws at all.

"Despite the best efforts of police, the evidence suggests that there is little value in trying to identify drug dealers by screening people with drug detection dogs in public places," he said.

However, the acting police minister, David Campbell, said sniffer dogs were an effective deterrent that saved lives and interrupted the supply of drugs.

The 19 convictions for supply was an "entirely satisfactory outcome", he said.


Newshawk: Stoner4Life - 420 Magazine
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Pubdate: Fri, 15 Sep 2006
Author: Tim Dick
Copyright: 2006 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact: letters@smh.com.au
Website: The Sydney Morning Herald - News, Business News, Breaking News, World News, News and Media

 

[Stoner4Life]

Of course David Campbell said it was an "entirely satisfatory outcome" it wasn't his money. But in a way it is, if they take the program away his budgets nearly a million bux smaller next year.
Do the math, 19 arrests for "supplying drugs" is nearly $46,000 per arrest or about a years wages for a police officer. Am I to believe that if I were hired to become a police officer that it would acceptable to make only one arrest per year to justify my keeping a job? BTW most municipalities consider a police dog to be an officer of the law. Why is that officer worth $870,000 for two years, that's a horrible return on the $$$,$$$.00!........

 

[Happy Kitty]

^^^^^^^^^^^
Yeah, what he said! I was going to say something else, but all that math made me dizzy!!!


Peace and happiness