sniffer dogs : bring down the dogs of war

by Jaqueline Beanstalk

Sniffer dogs trained to detect drugs have made it out of the airports and into our schools, pubs, clubs, streets and stations without a whimper of protest.

Dogs are trained to pick up on the tiniest traces of cannabis. The police say they are not after cannabis users, but Who Let the Dogs Out?

The right of the police to sniff us in public has yet to be challenged in a British court. It needs to be done. The police do not have the right to sniff us. The behaviour of a dog does not give the police reasonable grounds to search us. If a police officer tells you they have the right to search you because their dog has reacted to you- tell them you do not consent to the search. Don’t obstruct them if they proceed to search you but make it very clear that you have not provided your consent. If it comes to court you can challenge the legality of the search.

In Australia, massive campaigns against sniffer dogs have been instigated with huge success. Civil liberty organisations have organised sms systems to alert members to the presence of police dogs in the area by text message. We have a right to know where they are!

In Australia public outrage against sniffer dogs has resulted in the Parliamentary Ombudsman conducting a review of their use. The Ombudsman conducted a study into the accuracy of the police dogs and found 73 % of the people pointed out by the dogs had no drugs on them.

The same study showed that 60 % of those searched and who had no drugs on them admitted to the police that they had had some contact with cannabis, or had been to a place where it had been smoked. If they search you and find no drugs - don’t make any admissions! In doing so you bolster the credibility of the dogs’ powers, and add information to police files on you.

Bring down the Dogs of War!

This talk was written by Jaqueline Beanstalk. She asks you to email your dog stories to downwiththedogsofwar@yahoo.co.uk