Abbotsford schools 'front runner' in using sniffer dogs

By Vikki Hopes - Abbotsford News Published: Aldergrove Star

 

Drug-detection dogs have been sniffing their way around Abbotsford schools in a process the school district says is meant to be a prevention tool.

 

The board of education reinstated the use of the dogs this school year to conduct random sweeps. So far, searches have been conducted at one middle and six secondary schools. No drugs were found.

 

Sweeps were last done in the 2005-06 school year, but were halted when the private company contracted for the work had some of its dogs stolen.

 

A further delay occurred when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that random police-dog searches that lead to drug charges won’t stand up in court, due to privacy issues.

 

School district spokesman Dave Stephen said the board then had to have a legal review of its policy to ensure it was within the law. Once that was done, a new company – Canadian K9 Detection, Security and Investigation in Vancouver – was contracted.

 

The company’s administrative director, Margrett Donley, said Abbotsford is the only school district that has hired them to perform random searches.

 

“Abbotsford is the most forward-thinking in the Lower Mainland .... They are a front runner in protecting our children,” she said.

 

Donley said the sweeps help keep drugs out of the schools because students never know when they will be conducted. The firm uses Labrador retrievers and a springer spaniel, which have been trained to detect even the slightest trace of drugs.

 

Board of education chair Cindy Schafer said the sweeps are a complement to what the Abbotsford Police Department has been doing in local schools through its anti-gang programs such as the latest Operation Tarnish series of videos.

 

“The board’s position has been that we have this policy just really as a deterrent to continue to send the message that we don’t want to have, and we won’t tolerate, drugs in the schools.”

 

The searches are conducted while students are in class. The school principal arranges for the search to be videotaped and is responsible for searching the contents of any locker a dog “alerts” to.

 

Stephen said any student caught with drugs faces disciplinary action at the school level. Police would be called in only in extreme circumstances, he said.

 

The plan is to search every middle and high school at least once each year. Sweeps of middle schools are expected to take place starting this month.