DRUG-SNIFFING DOG OFFERED TO HIGH SCHOOLS, BUSINESSES

BILLY the dog loves dope, crank and coke.

Give him a command and off goes the two-year-old Belgian Malinois, tail in
the air and nose to the ground, looking for illegal drugs.

He's so good at what he does -- he's trained to American Drug Enforcement
Agency standards -- his owners hope schools, businesses and even remote
communities hire him to root out illegal drug use.

"It's something police don't have the resources to address," said Jeff
Bellingham, president of Rogue Crew Investigations Inc. "The beauty of
doing the dog thing is that the problem is being solved. When people know
that a dog is going to be brought in to do a search, people stop bringing
in drugs."

Bellingham knows about drugs. He's a retired Winnipeg Police Service
detective-sergeant who served seven years on the drug unit.

During that time, Bellingham and other officers on the drug unit, who
called themselves the Rogue Crew, were responsible for the largest cocaine
seizures in city history. Now he and his wife, Scarlett, want to parlay his
police know-how into private investigations, but with a Florida-trained
drug-detecting dog.

Specifically, Bellingham said, there's a need in Manitoba for drug
detection that does not necessarily involve police. For instance, Billy the
dog could sniff school lockers in order to eliminate petty drug use and sales.

"You want to do a search when the kids are in class, so they see what's
going on," Bellingham said. "You want them to think twice about bringing
drugs to school."

Billy can sniff out marijuana, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and heroin.

Similar private services already exist in Ontario, Alberta and in the
United States, but not in Manitoba.

Bellingham added he's already had expressions of interest in Billy's
talents from several rural schools and First Nation communities. He added
that all searches are done according to the law, and that it's up to the
clients to decide if they want to involve police.

Bellingham launched his business (roguecru@mts.net) three months after he
retired from the service, and after he got caught up in an internal
investigation into actions taken or not taken by police preceding the
suspected gang-related killing of Kevin Tokarchuk last May.

Bellingham was one of five officers placed on administrative leave May 26.