WHAT IS CANINE DETECTION?
It is the use of non-aggressive dogs to sniff out drugs found in lockers, bags, motor vehicles and buildings. It is one of the least intrusive methods of drug-detection as well as being one of the most sensitive and accurate methods. A trained dog will only indicate to a positive scent and so the chances of a false positive are almost nil.
In fact a dog can still smell drugs up to 72 hours after the drugs have been removed. Dogs have a sense of smell that is 1 000 times more acute than ours which makes it relatively easy for a trained dog to detect hidden drugs.
WHY WOULD IT WORK IN OUR COUNTRY?
Drug abuse at our schools is on the increase – not only in government schools but private schools as well. The police in our country have neither the manpower nor the resources to implement a programme of this nature. Furthermore, many schools see the presence of a police dog and handler on their premises as bad publicity. We on the other hand, use non-aggressive dogs which are only trained as detection dogs and have had no patrol dog training. In fact, we encourage interaction between our dogs and school-children. Supporters in the U.S.A. say that after the programme is implemented, the drug dogs rarely turn up illegal substances, but still provide a powerful deterrent. If we can prevent one child from becoming a victim, I believe the effort will have been worth it.
DO WE NEED A CANINE DRUG DETECTION PROGRAMME?
Any parent or educator who is not concerned about the escalating drug abuse in our society and in our schools in particular, has their head in the sand. As stated in the media there has been a 40% increase in the use of cocaine amongst our youth. Due to a lack of surveys our government has in the past has not acknowledge the seriousness of the problem in our schools. The new EDUCATION BILL shows us that the government is now taking the problem seriously although they still have no plans on prevention and detection for our schools. We all have a responsibility to work together to combat the scourge of drug abuse.
Prompt action by our nations’ schools, families and communities can bring significantly closer the goal of a drug-free generation and a drug-free society.
HOW IS THE PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTED?
Depending on the school, a programme of regular visits is developed to detect and deter drugs. Typically, everyone is informed of the implementation of the programme. In most cases, the drug-sniffing dogs are brought in to meet and interact with the children and the school employees and the programme is explained to them. The dogs are then brought in on a random basis to sniff lockers, bags, classrooms, toilets, vehicles and other designated areas. When the dog detects something, he will alert the handler who will then inform the school representative and the school will then decide on the appropriate action.
ADVANTAGES
The advantages of this system are:
1) It gives the school complete control on how they approach their drug and drug prevention programme.
2) If any drugs are detected and an individual is identified, the school, governing body and parents can decide on the appropriate action to take without condemning the child.
3) It gives the children another reason not to bow to peer or any other pressure. They can now say their school has a fool-proof plan in place to detect drugs.
4) Have you ever tried to bribe a dog? These dogs are totally focused on the scent of drugs and will detect a scent if drugs are present.
5) Complete confidence that this programme will work.
6) All records are confidential and no information will be released without your school’s prior approval.
7) An excellent marketing strategy. Who wouldn’t want to send their child to a drug-free school, whose administrators show that they are concerned about the safety of their learners and are prepared to do something pro-active about it?
8) Far less invasive than any other form of drug-testing.
It also does not require that the child has to outwardly show any symptoms of drug abuse.
9) A huge deterrent to would-be users and pushers of drugs as the visits are random and unannounced so that they would never know when it was safe to bring drugs onto school campuses.
WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN PLACE AT THE MOMENT TO PREVENT THIS?
We realise that this is not the only solution to the drug problem but it will go a long way towards creating a safer environment for our children. In other countries they have legislation in place, which makes it law that schools have to do everything in their power to ensure that their campuses are drug-free.
Our government has recently passed a new Education Bill of which the 3rd key feature is the section that "authorises school principals or a person they delegate to search pupils for dangerous weapons and illegal drugs and to seize them".
It is up to us as individuals and communities to formulate our own strategies and implement them in our schools. It is time to become pro-active and take back control of our school campuses and the safety of our children if we don’t how many more children will fall prey to this scourge?
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