Sniffer Dogs on the Streets of Brissy

[Matanuska Thunder]

"Sniffer dogs take to the streets"

Chris Griffith

Courier Mail

13jun05

 

 

QUEENSLAND police are using sniffer dogs to randomly check people for drugs.

 

The tactic has been criticised as verging on "totalitarian".

 

Police confirmed their anti-drugs operation following an Irish tourist's claim that he was subjected to 15 minutes of embarrassment and humiliation after a sniffer dog check at Brisbane's Toowong train station on Thursday morning.

 

The Irish visitor, who asked not to be named, and his friend David Davore had travelled from the city to Toowong when they were intercepted by several uniformed and plainclothes police at the exit point near the station's ticket office.

 

The tourist said he was confronted by a dog "sniffing up my crutch" in an operation he said he had not encountered even in Ireland.

 

"Yes, we do have a lot of problems back home but I've never encountered anything like this before," he said.

 

He said police took him aside, detained and searched him for 10 to 15 minutes and asked him to take off his shoes.

 

"They went through everything in my pockets, including a torch keyring," he said.

 

"They opened it up and took out my batteries, they opened my phone, they went through my bag and everything in my bag was taken out, and they went through my wallet."

 

He said he had never been involved with drugs but his bag did contain some prescription pills.

 

"I was pretty embarrassed and humiliated by the whole situation," he said.

 

Mr Davore said the dog also "jumped up and down" on him but he was not taken aside and searched.

 

He said a police officer took his details and asked him his eye colour.

 

A police spokesman said anti-drug patrols had been targeting train platforms "for quite a long time".

 

"On this occasion, however, it was enhanced by the presence of a drug-sniffer dog doing training," he said.

 

"It's called socialisation and that's so it can get familiar with crowds and get used to life in the city."

 

The spokesman said the officers involved selected passengers who were advised the dog was a drug-dog in training.

 

The officer said people were selected by appearance.

 

"It (the check) was basically well received as it was a black Labrador and not at all intimidating," he said.

 

The spokesman said police did not recall the names of Mr Davore and his friend, who were not arrested.

 

"There were a number of people charged in relation to the operation," the spokesman said.

 

But Brisbane lawyer Terry Fisher said any apprehending had to be based on a reasonable suspicion, not because police didn't like someone's appearance.

 

"You're getting near the type of tactics used in a totalitarian society when you start to screen people en masse and it's contrary to the parliamentary intent on the searching of people based on a reasonable suspicion," Mr Fisher said.

 

"You're not allowed to do this en masse."

[FlowerPower]

Thats Fucked Up......

[Amnesiac]

Wouldn't that be a violation of people's rights? or is it totally okay for them to be doing that shit???

[quizywig]

The officer said people were selected by appearance.

 

isnt that profiling its supposed to be illegal in the US not sure about Aust though,

i find if i put on a shirt and tie people call me Sir and dont even suspect im a pothead, wont help with the dogs though,

i did read on a Greens web site that if you see a cop with a dog approach you can refuse a search, dont know if it would stand up though

[WantDaChronic]

thats so fucked up, police should not have the power to conduct random searches, unless they endanger lives like testing for drink driving...searching for drugs on trains and other forms of public transport should be made illegal...

 

i find if i put on a shirt and tie people call me Sir and dont even suspect im a pothead

 

protesters make the mistake of not wearing a tuxedo...if they were to do a sit in at the gates of a detention centre, do you think the riot police with tear gas and water cannons would come out looking for a fight? i reckon they would actually be looked at with a bit of respect and taken seriously instead of being labled new age hippies or such and then treated like criminals :thumbdown

 

my friend got pulled up for a random search a couple of years back, was about midday and he went to put $2 in the pokies to try and win enough to get a $20 as we only had $12, anyways the police started talking to him and because i was under 18 and waiting outside, they thought he was in there buying smokes or something for me and started carrying on about the $5500 fine you can get...i chuckled and was asked what was so funny, i told him that i had a pack of smokes in my poket and my friend was only in there to burn $2 on the pokies, nothing more...the second i finished saying that, my friend was stripped down to his socks, forced to empty his pokets, had to take off his hat and by the time he was down to his boxers, the police wanted to take him to the cop shop had nothing on him, was just they couldnt conduct a cavity search in the main street, cunts.....he said that unless you have some evidence that i have done something wrong, im putting my pants back on, buying a beer and then going home and started pulling his pants up. the pig that was standing next to him said ok well lets go to the cop shop and my mate asked what he had done, pig said you sell drugs and we cannot be sure you dont have any stashed on you so we want to take you in for further examination, after about 5 mins of telling them that even if we took drugs or sold them, we wouldnt tell them and that we want their badge numbers, their phone numbers, even the rego number and license plate numbers of the car, they finally decided it was time to let us go....needless to say we took an alternate route home and didnt score any pot :thumbdown

[jethroqwalrustitty]

bad luck man, seems like you have real trouble with pigs over there, the vindictive bastards

[Infinitee]

yes, too many corrupt cops "looking" for drugs.

 

unfortunate for some here, a previous conviction is reason enough for a search, so if you've been busted once with pot. the police can just walk upto on the street at any time and check your bags, and the bastards do. it half scares me away from fucking society. And they wonder why we become "outcast" form society. what am i rambling about? yeah, alot of corrupt cops here mate.

[jethroqwalrustitty]

cant you just give a fake name, then they wont know youve been done before. or do you have manditory I.D cards or somthing?

[Infinitee]

i don't live in anything remotely related to a city, small town man, cops know all the smokers and target 'em.

[jethroqwalrustitty]

thats a bit of a bastard, you must get pretty paranoid when your trying to score or when your carrying some on you-how do you stash it, got any usefull tips?