The use of police sniffer dogs to target high school students in Byron and Tweed shires last week prompted an angry response from local politicians and parents.
Up to four dogs and their handlers took part in the operation, which also targeted the general public.
Tweed/Byron local area command inspector Greg Jago confirmed that a small number of cannabis detections were made outside the schools.
‘The number was under five, and depending on their previous interactions with police they could be dealt with under the young offenders’ act, with a cannabis caution or with a court attendance notice,’ Insp Jago said.
‘Normally when a drug detection operation is run a warrant is issued by the local court and I assume a warrant was issued in this case.
The Echonetdaily was previously told a general warrant was issued from the Murwillumbah court, however attempts to view the warrant have been unsuccessful.
In conflicting reports, Insp Jago said he understood that Mullumbimby, Byron and Murwillumbah high schools were targeted and were aware of what was happening, but the dogs and police did not enter school grounds.
But representatives from both Murwillumbah and Byron High Schools told echonetdaily there had been no sniffer dogs at their schools.
‘Our focus is harm minimisation and at this stage the focus is that they should be going to school to be educated so the removal of illegal drugs is necessary,’ said Inspector Jago.
But not everybody agrees.
North coast Greens MP and ex-Byron mayor Jan Barham described it as wasteful, ineffective and intrusive.
‘We would benefit from a police youth liaison officer rather than sniffer dogs’, she said.
NSW Council for Civil Liberties spokesperson Stephen Blanks also slammed the use of dogs to target school children as ‘entirely inappropriate’.
Mr Blanks said the effectiveness of sniffer dogs was questionable.
‘It is even more inappropriate for sniffer dogs to be used outside a school – even with a warrant – because of the vulnerability of children, who are likely to be arriving at or leaving from school without adult supervision,’ he said.
Greens MP David Shoebridge, who told Echonetdaily he is seeking a freedom of information request on the standard sniffer dog operation procedures.
‘The presence of sniffer dogs doesn’t prevent drug taking, it changes behaviour,’ he said. ‘It also damages relations between police and young people.
‘When we ask police how many prosecutions come from these exercises, we are told they “don’t keep statistics.”’
But according to Mr Shoebridge, recent figures obtained from parliamentary questions on notice show 65 per cent of all searches following a police drug dog indication finds no drugs and as a result is a ‘false positive indication.’
‘From the 2012 to 2013, there were 15,308 indications leading to search,’ Mr Shoebridge said.
‘Of those, nothing was found on 10,964 people.
‘This is about show; the NSW government want to be seen to be tackling drug crime, but this is not effective policing. It’s an expensive and ineffectual PR campaign.
‘These laws have been enacted and cheered on by both NSW Labor and the Coalition but were opposed by the Greens.’
Tweed NSW Labor hopeful Ron Goodman said he ‘wasn’t keen to comment on specific operations but wanted to ensure police resources were used effectively.’
Echonetdaily asked NSW Labor’s Walt Secord if sniffer dogs damage the relationship and trust between the public and police.
‘While I do not comment on specific police operations, I would have concerns if scarce police resources in Tweed-Byron local area command were being diverted,’ he said.
Ballina National hopeful Kris Beavis told The Echo he was ‘not inclined to comment as we don’t know what intelligence the police had’.
Meanwhile, Inspector Jago said the positive drug detections could lead to further investigations at the schools.
It’s understood the dogs used in the operation had been brought to Byron shire for the Splendour in the Grass festival, but have since left the region.
* UPDATE: This story has been amended to reflect that both Byron and Murwillumbah High School representatives told echonetdaily there were no police sniffer dogs at their school. This is at odds with the comment from Inspector Jago, who said he understood that there were.
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