This seems wholly disproportionate to me.
1 charged with crack supply and 4 with possession over 2 days.
"We also stopped anybody acting suspiciously or trying to avoid the dogs."
Suspiciously - what does that mean? Avoiding dogs - lots of people don't
like dogs, I'm not too keen.
“In some cases it was innocent. There were examples of people who had
simply been in the vicinity of somebody smoking cannabis and another of
somebody carrying prescribed methadone."
In how many cases was it innocent?
Drugs operation on city bound trains
03 May 2008 10:46
A major operation to stop drug trafficking on East Anglia's rail network
saw police with sniffer dogs checking every passenger who arrived in
Norfolk over two days.
British Transport Police worked alongside rail operator National Express
with the help of drug specialists from Norwich prison in a bid to tell
criminals: “You're not welcome here”.
The crackdown at Norwich station which finished on Friday came after
officers gathered intelligence suggesting heroin, crack cocaine and
cannabis dealers from London are increasingly targeting the county.
One man was arrested and charged for possession of crack with intent to
supply and at least four more had been charged with various possession
offences.
PC Andy Cook said: “We had uniformed and plain clothes officers working
with the dogs to detect anybody who had recently been in contact with
controlled substances. We also stopped anybody acting suspiciously or
trying to avoid the dogs.
“In some cases it was innocent. There were examples of people who had
simply been in the vicinity of somebody smoking cannabis and another of
somebody carrying prescribed methadone.
“But we have arrested at least one potential drug dealer who is now
going through the court system and detected a number of lower level
crimes. That has got to be seen as a success.”
Anyone detected by the dogs was immediately led to a secure area where
they were searched. A makeshift custody facility was set up behind the
station to hold offenders with more serious cases being transported to
Bethel Street.
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED03%20May%202008%2010%3A46%3A46%3A200
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Dr John Watson
Baker Street
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