SCHOOL SAYS SNIFFER DOG IS UK FIRST IN FIGHT ON DRUGS

A HEADMASTER is using a sniffer dog to combat drugs at his school, it
was revealed yesterday, and the idea, borrowed from schools in the US,
has already been a success.

Two 15-year-old boys at Bramhall High School in Stockport, Greater
Manchester, have been found with cannabis and suspended.

The head teacher, John Peckham, said he reserved the right to continue
with the spot checks and believed his school was the first in the UK
to copy a practice widely used in the US.

He denied that the dog's introduction would send out the message that
his school, in a prosperous suburb , suffered from drug abuse. "Every
school in the country has a problem with drugs, ours is no better or
worse than any other," Mr Peckham said.

"We see this as being part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the
harm that drugs cause to young people. Just as the fear of breath
tests deters many adults from drinking and driving, so the possibility
of being caught in school with an illegal drug will also act as a
deterrent for many young people."

Steve Warren said his firm, Sovereign Security, was first called into
the school in December after Mr Peckham heard about sniffer dogs from
a friends who used to work for Greater Manchester Police. The normal
working environment of his dog, Scuba, was in nightclubs.

Despite two letters of complaint from concerned parents, the response
has been broadly favourable. The chairwoman of Bramhall High School's
governors, Suzanne Wyatt, was confident her school's reputation would
not suffer in the eyes of parents.

But the policy was met with apprehension by Stockport's chief
education officer, Max Hunt. He said the sight of a sniffer dog might
worry younger pupils at the school, which has 1,450 children aged 11
to 16.

Reaction of pupils was mixed. Daniel Hyde, 16, said he was shocked to
see the golden labrador sniffing around his school. While welcoming
the tough stance on drugs, he added: "I don't think it's done much for
trust between staff and the students."

Rachel Young, 13, backed her headmaster's tough policy on drug users,
saying: "They know that teachers are aware of people bringing drugs
into the school. You don't want young kids getting forced into drugs
and getting hooked on them."