MUZZLING OF SNIFFER DOG USE WON'T ALTER PRIVATE BUSINESS

There's Still Money In Detecting Illegal Materials In Buildings,
Ships, Trucks

A Supreme Court of Canada ruling that outlaws the use of police
sniffer dogs to do random drug searches in public places won't affect
private industry's use of such dogs, Margrett Donley says.

Donley is the owner of Surrey's Canadian K9 Detection Group which
supplies dog teams to conduct security sweeps of buildings, cruise
ships, commercial trucks, charter boats, fishing vessels, mining
camps, movie sets, anywhere illegal drugs, weapons or explosives might
show up.

"I'm not surprised by the court ruling," she said Friday. "The police
have known for a long time that they couldn't do random checks because
they are supposed to have 'just cause' for a search."

Abbotsford school district used private drug-sniffing dogs years ago
but has since stopped the practice, said school superintendent Des
McKay.

"It's not something we are involved in," McKay said. But if school
authorities suspected drugs were in a school, he added, they could do
a search under the authority of the School Act.

Surrey school district at one time considered using sniffer dogs in
schools but eventually decided not to.

Donley said the ruling won't affect her business, which is largely
working for property owners to ensure their property isn't being used
for illegal purposes.

That service is in such demand business has tripled in the last year,
she said.

"Property owners want to make sure that their premises aren't being
used to manufacture drugs or used for drug dealing," she said.

"Last week there was a meth lab found in a very nice apartment in
Vancouver [in the 800-block of Burrard Street]. If we had been called
to that building we would have found it right away. Meth labs are very
easy to detect, but are very dangerous as there's the risk of an
explosion that could result in people being killed.

"The fact is, the owner would not be covered by insurance in those
circumstances, so it's in their best interests to avoid having drug
operations in their buildings," she said.

Her company was founded six years ago with just one detection dog, a
golden retriever called Honey Bun.

Now Canadian K9 has 12 dogs and a growing demand for services. The
company buys the dogs at a cost of $6,000 each from training companies
in the United States. It costs $150 an hour with a two-hour minimum
for a team of two dogs and a handler to conduct a sweep.

Donley said her company has contracts with a number of apartments and
condominiums in Metro Vancouver to do periodic searches. "We vary our
routine and in some buildings the owners have put up notices saying
our company has been contracted to do drug searches. This has led to a
some tenants leaving quickly," she said.

The dogs are allowed into common areas such as hallways and storage
rooms, and if something is detected it is up to the building owner or
management to deal with it, she said.

"Under the Residential Tenancy Act a landlord can enter a dwelling
after giving 24 hours written notice. Usually, if it's a growing
operation, the tenants clear out within the 24 hours and take
everything with them," she said.

Donley said the sniffer dogs are not used for small jobs, such as
discovering a tenant smoking marijuana.

"We are looking for grow-ops or drug labs or if someone is using an
apartment to distribute drugs," she said.

One marijuana-growing operation the dogs found in a Burnaby apartment
complex cost the owner $60,000 in repairs, she said. If a drug
distribution business was being run from an apartment that would be
found, too

"The dogs will smell traces of those drugs around the door," she
said.

During this time of year, K9 works on the Vancouver waterfront
checking cargo and stores being loaded aboard Holland America line
cruise ships calling at the port. The company will check all 80
sailings from Vancouver by the shipping line this year.

Donley said dog teams have found items in cargo that were being loaded
on to the ships but wouldn't say what they were. Sometimes the dogs
will indicate hits that turn out to be emergency flares or fireworks
or the projectiles used to launch lines being loaded aboard.

"These are legitimate items the company doesn't tell us about but they
know when we find them we are doing our job," she said.