DRUG DOGS IN SCHOOLS

Learning Minister Lyle Oberg is leaving the door open for more school
boards in Alberta to use dogs trained to detect drugs in schools. He said
while his department has no authority to enforce a provincewide policy, he
would have no problems if boards adopted such a process.

"It can go ahead," Oberg said yesterday during question period in the
legislature.

He said he and Solicitor General Heather Forsyth will take a look at
funding drug-sniffing dog initiatives.

"This is one element we can act on," said Oberg.

Already the Greater St. Albert Catholic school division, the St. Albert
Protestant Separate School board, and the local RCMP detachment have a
five-year-old protocol in place.

"We have had some expulsions," said Barry Wowk, a deputy superintendent
with the Protestant board.

He said the drug-sniffing dogs show up in schools unannounced, and if drugs
are found the police seize them. The students are handed over to the
principals for disciplinary action, but no criminal charges are laid, he said.

Joan Trettler, chairman of the Protestant trustees, said the program in the
Edmonton suburb has worked well because it was an idea that began at the
grassroots.

"There's a will to do it," she said. "There's a commitment to the process."

She said the frequency of the random checks depends on the availability of
the cop canines.

"I would like to see them through on a monthly basis," she said, noting
students would then note the seriousness of the situation.

However, she said "at least three times" the dogs have conducted searches
during the current school year, which began last September.

Last week, drug-sniffing dogs began searching provincial jails as part of
an expanded drug detection program.

The government has entered into a $100,000 agreement with the Mounties to
use the dogs to search jails across the province on a random basis.