POLICE DOGS TO CHECK RAIL PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE

Passengers travelling on Via Rail will soon have their luggage sniffed by
police dogs during random searches for drugs or explosives, a Via Rail
official said Thursday.

The program -- similar to one in the United States called Jetway -- is
designed to increase security in Canada's passenger rail system, said
Malcolm Andrews, senior public affairs adviser.

"Our sensitivities regarding the safety and security of our passengers has
been heightened in the wake of 9/11 and the train bombing in Madrid," said
Andrews.

He said the travelling public could expect to see signs alerting them to
the prospect of police searches within the near future.

They will be conducted by police with dogs trained to sniff out explosives
or illegal drugs.

"It won't happen every day or at set times but it will happen from time to
time," he said.

Passengers boarding trains and buses in Canada do so without a luggage
search, unlike the situation at airports. This appears to have made rail
travel a particular favourite of drug couriers moving illicit drugs around
the country.

A B.C. judge recently ruled that police could use drug-sniffing dogs to
randomly search cars parked on provincial ferries. However, courts do not
always look favourably on drug searches.

Recently a provincial court was told that the Via Rail Station on Main
Street is being targeted by drug squad officers because of the amount of
drugs being smuggled across the country by train.

Andrews said large drug seizures have occurred in Via Rail stations in both
Vancouver and Halifax.

"They are major ports into which drugs are smuggled so it's not really
surprising," he said.

Via Rail's announcement came after trafficking charges against a man found
carrying 24 kilos of cocaine -- worth $800,000 on the street -- were thrown
out of Vancouver provincial court by Judge Catherine Bruce.

Bruce found that the officers who arrested Shu Hau Zhou on Jan. 3, 2003,
had acted on a "hunch" when they stopped him on the train platform and
detained him for a few minutes while a dog was called to sniff his luggage.

When the dog reacted to luggage, it was opened and 24 packages of cocaine
were found inside.

The dog and its handler had made up to 50 drug seizures at the station
alone, Bruce was told.

But she found the search contravened Zhou's charter rights as a hunch
"cannot deprive the accused of the expectation of privacy he had in his
luggage, even in a public train station.

"There is no evidence the security concerns in a train station are elevated
to those at an airport where people expect their luggage to be checked
before they board a plane," she said.

Bruce said police lacked the grounds for a search warrant and ruled the
evidence seized couldn't be admitted in court.

Const. Howard Chow said Thursday the decision is to be appealed. "That's
what we are working on right now."

While the Zhou case ended unsuccessfully for the officers, the evidence at
the trial showed that Via Rail is already cooperating with the police in
identifying passengers who might be carrying drugs.

According to the evidence of Kelly Thomas, the railways customer service
manager in Vancouver, she passed information on the accused to police based
on profiling criteria used to identify potential drug smugglers.

She told the court the company takes note of passengers who:

- - Buy last-minute tickets.

- - Pay cash (in the case of Zhou and his companion, $2,632).

- - Want private accommodation.

- - Insist on keeping their luggage and won't allow it to be checked into a
baggage car.

Andrews said Via Rail staff have been trained in various techniques to spot
passengers who could pose a security threat or could be involved in a
criminal enterprise.

"They are not acting as police agents and we don't expect them to do
anything other than be vigilant. The travelling public has a right to
expect they will be safe and comfortable," he said.