TOY-MAD DOG NEEDED IN DRUG CLAMPDOWN

DOGS who love playing with toys are being enlisted by police in the fight
against drugs as officers sign-up canine help to crack down on pushers.

A 10-month old Labrador has enrolled for training as the force's first
"passive drug detection (body scanning) dog" but the hunt is on for an
equally playful kennel-mate to be used in around 70 drug-busting operations
in the county every year.

Drugs section sergeant at Suffolk police, Jim Gall, said the four-legged
recruits will be used in the "reduction, disruption and detection" of the
drugs business.

Unlike the proactive drugs dogs already used by officers to search premises
and open areas for narcotics, the new passive canines scan the area around
individuals for traces of illegal substances and then sit quietly in front
of them.

"That's an indication that they recognise the smell and gives [officers]
reasonable suspicion for sufficient grounds to carry out a search within the
law," Sgt Gall said.

The Labrador and his still-to-be-recruited mate will go to canine training
school in Durham in May -- " provided they pass a medical -- " to learn the
scents of cocaine, crack, heroin, amphetamine sulphate, ecstasy and cannabis
in its various forms.

Police need to find a second hound to get their new animal drugs team to
full strength and are looking for a willing dog or bitch, aged between 10
months and two years, to be volunteered for the role.

"We are looking for gun dog breeds because people are less likely to be
worried by a Labrador walking towards them than by, for example, a
Rottweiler or an Irish Wolf Hound," Sgt Gall said.

He added the animals should be around Labrador height because the majority
of body scanning takes place around waist-height. "It's an advantage to get
their nose at pocket height," he said.

The two new recruits will join the dog section at Suffolk Constabulary which
has 14 dog-handlers and 22 dogs including 14 German Shepherds, four
proactive drugs dogs and four dogs for bomb detection.

Cash for the dogs has been allocated from Government money for Communities
Against Drugs via Suffolk's seven crime and disorder reduction partnerships
after an agreement between the groups, Suffolk Drug Action Team and the
police.

The county got more than UKP 500,000 to tackle drugs over three years and
UKP 14,000 is going to feed and train two passive dogs this year as well as
to provide specific training for their handlers.

Canine drug detectors will be used on intelligence led operations and police
hope it will disrupt the supply of substances in the county.

Each of Suffolk's seven areas will get around 10 visits from the dogs in
operations over the year.

Training consists of the dogs being rewarded with a ball for picking up the
scent of illegal drugs around a person so it is vital they are toy-crazy.

"When he's working for me, it's a big game. He doesn't realise he's really
working hard," said Pc Barry Miller, the first recruit's handler.

Sgt Gall appealed for anyone with a dog which might fit the criteria to get
in touch with a view to signing it up as Suffolk's second passive drugs dog.

He said: "It must be ball or toy mad with an absolute fixation on a toy. It
will want to play with a toy more than anything else."

If you have a dog you think could help, contact Sgt Jim Gall on 01473 613723