SCHOOL DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS NO REGULAR THING: SURREY RCMP

RCMP have turned up their noses at a Surrey School Board plan to use the
detachment's drug-sniffing dogs.

Their reasoning? The squad's eight canine units are already busy enough.
The plan to bring dogs into schools, first floated last year, will be voted
on at a May 13 board meeting. Trustee Heather Stillwell predicts the
policy, part of Surrey's Safe & Caring Schools initiative, will pass.

She says she welcomes the move, because drugs are the main thing that make
students feel unsafe.

"The students have a right to be in a drug-free environment for their
schooling," Stillwell said yesterday. "[But] this is not going to be like a
regular thing on every second Wednesday, because the police don't have the
capacity to do that."

The RCMP warned the board that it couldn't provide its dogs for random
searches and that a private agency would charge $275 an hour. Surrey RCMP
Const. Tim Shields says that although his detachment was involved in
creating the overall initiative, it has no plans to use the its dogs for
"fishing trips."