Although, it did rule out five recommendations immediately, which included decriminalisation and ditching the drug dogs. In a controlled experiment in California published in 2011 a building was set up with no legitimate targets like drugs or explosives. Ombudsman Bruce Barbour found police uncovered drugs only 26 percent of the time that dogs gave a positive indication. Meh i'm still bringing a 10 bag. The Helsinki University researchers behind the trial, working with sniffer-dog specialists from the organisation Wise Nose, hope that their research will persuade the government to fund a rollout of the dogs for other uses, such as at tourist hotspots or large public gatherings. Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Most were picked up at train stations or outside bars or clubs. This argument, she points out, has held in other jurisdictions; in one US case, Kyllo v. United States, the judge ruled that the use of thermal imaging to reveal that the defendant was growing cannabis in his house was a search, and therefore required a warrant. We asked NSW Greens MP and anti-sniffer dog campaigner David Shoebridge to walk us through exactly what happens when you're confronted by a sniffer dog. Traces of deadly substances were found in two of the 85 samples offered up for testing. Despite this, their efficacy has never been immune from being called into question. Festival season is fast approaching and across the UK sniffer dogs will be on the scent for festival-goers drugs. bring in glass or weapons! Your previous content has been restored. We're constantly posting new great articles like this one. I don't think you know what you're talking about, or at the very least, your supposed sheriff friend doesn't know shit. 20 Acts To See At V Festival 2009: Police dogs and their handlers staged 144 walk-throughs in the building, with the dogs given the impression that real targets were in place. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Swallowing three pills in quick succession, Thoms soon started exhibiting strange behaviourwas escorted to a first-aid room when her teeth began to chatter and she looked sick. Will consider that option for sure then. What implications does this have for the legality of their use? There are a handful of other powers that allow police to search an individual without reasonable suspicion, such as Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2001, which permits searches without grounds at borders. sniffer dog deployment and training 66 "Super Sniffer" dog squads have been deployed across India and are now in active duty doing their bit for wildlife. And even then, if they open your bag and search, as long as it's hidden well enough i doubt it'd be a problem. You have to assume that the timing is merely an unfortunate coincidence given the Big Day Out is due to roll into Perth in just a few days, although with the problems the festival has been having in Claremont, it isnt hard to imagine there could be some politically motivated tactics at play. ", Barbour also found those singled out by drug dogs were overwhelmingly young peoplesome 47 percent of them under 25 years old. Yet, what has is that officers are now demanding that those indicated who dont appear to have anything on them after a pat down search, are now being asked to strip off. A sniffer dog and handler at Y Not Festival. Since then, police have been regularly patrolling music venues looking for all manner of banned substances from the unsuspecting public. The big headliners, wacky outfits and general feel-good factor they provide will always make them very popular. Whether they do it at an effective rate remains up in the air, but the fact that having drugs on you is very likely to set off a sniffer dog is just conventional wisdom, right? My friend and I were both shitting ourselves because we both had stuff on us. The choice of picking the best sniffer dog breeds lies on your shoulders. There's a general rule that dogs should do 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off, but what you tend to find at festivals is that they work a lot more at peak times and less at quieter times." It could. They're extremely expensive, most of the time normal dogs are used to scare people. You would be free to refuse to enter the search area altogether, but you would not be allowed to enter the festival grounds if you did. Its also been said that the dogs get it wrong most of the time, with experts increasingly questioning the use of drug sniffer dogs in policing and new research finding that they can be influenced by their handlers racial biases. Following the inquest Ms Grahame made 28 recommendations to various government departments, the Australian Festivals Association and a private first aid contractor used at large live music events. Some of these locations were labelled as containing drugs indicated by a sheet of red paper, Oxenham writes. marathonsteve Another key shift is that the community is calling for the legalisation of cannabis, as well as the decriminalisation of the personal possession of illicit substances, which basically signals that the public doesnt approve of armed officers harassing civilians over small amounts of illegal drugs. Worse, could the use of dogs actuallybe adding to the risk of harm by those determined to take drugs at festivals? I went to a festival once. It's also not enough to just have a good sense of smell to be a good sniffer dog. Yet, nowadays, officers are back to staking out trains stations with the canines and running them through a sizable number of crowded bars. Freedom of Information requests found that only 12 percent of those searched as a result of a dog indication were found to be in possession of drugs. But why? Oxenham ends his article by citing a 2012 study of ecstasy users, which found a minority of users responding to the sight of drug dogs by immediately consuming all of their drugs, putting themselves at risk of overdose. Sniffer dogs will be used and prosecutions made. Its always a risk when you take any kind of drugs, but new and experimental drugs have all new risks associated with them. Upload or insert images from URL. Sniffer Dogs, Detection Dogs, Canine Noseworkthey are all different names for a dog that is trained to detect substances/odors using their sense of smell. August 22, 2006 at 9:37 am #724811. Most dogs at festivals are bomb dogs not drug dogs. Drugs dogs will be searching at all gates and anyone found attempting to bring drugs into the site may be refused entry via our new gate review teams. Sniffer dogs will pick "everything" up. ive been told there is gonna be sniffer dogs there because of that stupid 14 year old twat that ended up in hospital for 3 days the other week through taking drugs at a rave down south so there now saying there gonna try and come down hard at all music festivals this year, well id say theyre just talking bollox really. news. "$6000 per hour for an operation that will mostly catch people carrying only small amounts of drugs. Further research suggests dogs are able to interpret human eye contact, head and body orientation, and glances. Of those searches, illicit substances were not found on 11,248 occasions. Why would they bring drug dogs to a music festival? A person might have no drugs on them but may have recently smoked a joint, or that person hasnt got drugs on them or smoked anything but sat next to someone on the train who is a heavy cannabis user or had cannabis in their pocket, Nunn says. *The notable exception to this is in Section 60 of the Public Order Act 1994; if police believe that serious violence is about to occur in their locality, they can stop and search any individual or vehicle in the area within a 24-hour period, without needing reasoning suspicion. Tick to subscribe, untick to unsubscribe from any newsletters below: Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture. I had 1/2 oz of stank ass bud on me the whole time, dog never gave a fuck. Barely a. Sign up to receive the Release newsletter, Copyright 2022 Release Legal Emergency & Drugs Service Ltd. The use of sniffer dogs, sometimes known as passive alert detection dogs, is a part of general police practice across the world, having seen their first use in the UK as early as 1888. Perhaps most telling, despite the fear she felt, it didnt stop her from taking drugs. Moving away from using festival dogs towards a more proportionate, less intrusive response would put the police firmly on the right side of festival-goers, and on the right side of the law. Every year, police and their dog operations return to some of Australias most iconic and loved festivals on the calendar, searching the pockets of hundreds of patrons for everything from cannibis, to amphetamines and ecstasy, and everything in between. The experiment was double blind; the experimenters were not aware whether a location was a decoy containing a pair of sausages or a decoy containing what the handlers had been led to believe was cannabis.. It would have to have a bleach bath and be completely sterile to not be caught by them. 'Extraordinary rise' in strip-searches by . Sniffer dog on patrol at Champion Day at the 2019 Festival (Image: PA). And according to all the evidence, he's mostly right. According to Big Think 's Simon Oxenham, the targets sniffer dogs choose may have less to do with the dog's senses and their training, than their police officer handlers, who may be the ones actually calling the shots. 1 Bloodhound 2 Basset Hound 3 Beagle 4 German Shepherd 5 Labrador Retriever 6 Belgian Malinois 7 English Springer Spaniel 8 Coonhound 9 German Shorthaired Pointer 10 Pointer The most common trait these dogs share is their long, slender noses. I happen to know the head sheriff of the K-9 unit at my local police department. Learn about the Basset Hound, Beagle, Belgian Malinois, and more. It follows the plea by Australian band Art Vs Science to abandon the use of drug-detection dogs at this month's Splendour in the Grass event to reduce the number of "panic" overdoses. In the US the police force use two different types of dogs here. . However, when it comes to finding the best sniffer dog breeds, you should get a bloodhound. However, this doesnt necessarily indicate a failure of sniffer dogs olfactory organs; the NSW review also found that 60 per cent of the cases where dog-led searches had produced no drugs, the person stopped had been near drugs recently. NSW Police sniffer dogs at a music festival in Sydney in 2016. Credit: Fairfax Media The City of Sydney agreed on Monday night to give WorldPride another $300,000 to help beautify Oxford Street . Just because the dogs can be influenced, doesn't mean they can't do their jobs. Guest hjohny2k5, May 31, 2006 in Download Festival. In 2006, the NSW Ombudsmanreleased a report into state police use of drug dogs, which found that 74 percent of searches following a dog indication result in nothing being found, while 84 percent of the time when something is found, its cannabis, overwhelmingly in a small amount. The article Festival Season, Sniffer Dogs and Searches - Your Guide to Dealing With Police at a Festival is written by Josh Harris, Senior Lawyer, Doogue + George Defence Lawyers. Yo all Wanna ask the rollitup users there ways of smuggling smelly items into festivals Im not to sure how to go about it, im going to my first festival in 4 weeks and im not a big drinker Any how my idea was to put the goods in a ballon in a zip bag wraped again in duct tap tight and put. Even if they found a bit of weed on you, doubt they'll do anything more than take it off you. Photo:Deborah Vernon / Alamy Stock Photo, influenced by their handlers racial biases, Sniffer Dogs and The Dickhead Tax: The Secrets of Festival Drug Dealers. Do they only smell big quantities of drugs? Ahahahaha wouldnt be surprised! I acted as a police escort at a festy in the US where i would yell out loud every few seconds that the cops were coming so they had no chance on sneaking up on anybody. Started 3 hours ago, By Indeed, the review recommended abolishing the act altogether. Angel . One report sent to Release by a UK festival-goer describes how they were subjected to a strip search by police. Overall, the bloodhound is the best choice because they are big and can be intimidating, easy to train, and more than qualified for the job. I did a threesome while rolling and it was one of the Amazing night rolling in a beautiful hotel room with a supposed to be a gram, 35 dollars, how much from it best way to take these 300/320mg super mario pills. Giving consent to search as a condition of entry means that police can effectively conduct blanket searches, with dogs or otherwise. Don't look sketchy and you'll be fine, get past them all the time. On the sniffer dog side, you can have various breeds, but spaniels and Labradors would be the main ones. Since Passive Alert Detection dogs (sniffer dogs) were introduced during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, their effectivenesson events like music festivalshave often been brought into question. Theres something uniquely ridiculous about festivals and the rumours they generate. El_quinto Connoisseur of fine Cannabis #3 El_quinto, Aug 20, 2016 Easy fix bro. "One area in which we particularly lag behind the animal world is that of smell perception. Should be fine. Victoria Police has this year started using sniffer dogs to patrol Chapel Street, a popular nightspot for young people. So the chances of a dog latching on to anything on you is very small indeed, you've probably got a 1/20 chance of being caught, if that. Trust me, half the stuff i say i'm making up in my own head, the other half is fuelled by whatever music i'm currently listening to, idle threat i reckon, a few people may think twice about it - i think its jjust a scare tactic to deter some people wanting to bring in hard drugs, the last 4 festivals ive been to ive never seen any1 get weed taken off them nor have i ever seen a sniffer dog. In a local court in New South Wales, a magistrate ruled in 2002 that use of sniffer dogs amounted to an illegal search, since it was lacking in reasonable grounds. 17:35, 9 JUN 2019. ", "$2000 per hour for a dog who will 60 to 80 percent of the time sniff out someone who is not carrying any drugs $6000 per hour for an operation to subject festival goers who are not carrying drugs to strip searches," said Shoebridge, who heads up the anti-drug dog Sniff Off campaign. If a dog is searching a car and someones got a McDonalds bag under their seat, its still going to be motivated by that its just a dog but its rare. You cannot paste images directly. With 80,000 festival-goers pouring through the gates at Heaton Park for the second day of . Flett adds that there are several factors that could stop a dog from picking up on a scent. Yeah mate 100% agree, feel like mostly the dogs dont actually do much. A police officer, however, can search you at any time, but they must first tell you their name and station, what they intend to find, the reason they want to search you (AKA a dog has indicated you are holding drugs), why they are legally allowed to search you and how you can get a copy of the search recording. Theres a reason why dogs have historically been trained to sniff out contraband, Nunn says: A dog has got something like 250 million nose receptors and weve got like two million. lucky me eh? Whilst it firmly states that being indicated by a drugs dog is grounds for a physical search, it also points out that the use of passive drugs dogs isnt a search in itself, as the dogs are encouraged to sniff a general target area, rather than any particular individual. The only exception to whether a sniff is considered an illegal search, then, is if youre funnelled, delayed, targeted, interfered with, or requested to change direction to allow the dog to sniff you; this is in keeping with PACEs stipulation that the police cant stop you and then look for grounds for a physical search. They may signal that someone is carrying drugs when they are not, or they might fail to identify someone who does have drugs on them. By AFP Today, 9:45 pm. Sniffer dogs are used in K9 detection, which encompasses more than just illegal drugs. The More You Know: 6 Interesting Labrador Retriever Facts. And an indication from a drug dog can be all the police need to search you without your. However, the dogs are not 100 per cent reliable. The use of sniffer dogs, sometimes known as "passive alert detection dogs", is a part of general police practice across the world, having seen their first use in the UK as early as 1888 . The police often use dogs trained to find drugs in public places, including tube stations and festivals, in order to identify someone who is in possession of drugs. As I watched, I became increasingly convinced that the dog handlers were the ones covertly selecting their targets, rather than the dogs themselves. Turns out, theres research supporting Oxenhams hypothesis. It's a safe bet that most dogs in fesitivals are inexperienced or being trained for crowd control, not actual drug sniffing dogs. Dont look sketched out or try to avoid the dogs. Powered by Invision Community, In 2004 I was in the queue for about 4 hours because they search EVERYONE individually, best way around is to turn up at an obscure time when less people will be arriving. Further research suggests dogs are used to scare people Image: PA ) act altogether a search! They 're extremely expensive, most of the K-9 unit at my local department. 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