Parcel find has drug dog wagging her tail

Northland Region Corrections Facility’s resident drug dog Roxy had a great week last week, with the interception of a carefully disguised parcel of drugs destined for a prisoner.

‘Collective crossbreed’ Roxy and her handler Chris were checking incoming mail on Thursday for contraband when she indicated that a courier package may contain suspicious items.

“The parcel was opened, and found to contain a book and a note for a prisoner. Hidden in the spine of the book was a tightly wrapped package of cannabis leaf measuring 15 centimetres by 4 centimetres,” says Acting Prison Manager Chris Gisler. The package has been given to Police to investigate possible prosecution of the sender.

Roxy and Chris’ other duties include searching contractors and prison’ visitors and their vehicles for drugs, perimeter searches of the site and searches of prisoner cells. They also work closely with a team of staff who carry out the physical searches when the dog indicates the presence of drugs, and Intelligence staff who provide information that allows the team to target specific prisoners, visitors or cells for searching.

“For many of the prisoners at Northland, drug use and abuse was a big part of life before coming to prison – and often contributed to their offending, whether they were stealing to support their addiction, or under the influence at the time of their crime.”

“For these reasons, and for the safety of the public, our staff and the other prisoners that we manage, we work really hard to prevent drugs getting inside. We also look at whether a prisoner would benefit from undertaking a substance abuse programme or time in a Drug Treatment Unit for those prisoners who want to put a stop to the destructive effect that drugs have on their lives, which reduces the demand for drugs in prison.”

In the last financial year positive random drug tests on prisoners nationally gave the lowest result since drug tests began in 1998 at 10.5%, showing that the increased focus on preventing drugs entering prison is effective.

“People don’t seem to realise – we check mail, visitors, staff, contractors, vehicles, prisoners, cells, everything – and we work closely with Police to ensure that those responsible for smuggling contraband into the prison are held responsible.”

ENDS

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