Ysgol y Creuddyn became the first school in Conwy to invite a sniffer dog in as part of the Personal and Social Education Programme.
Thanks to funding from PACT, PC Meirion Williams was able to organise for Patch the Labrador Border Collie cross to visit the Penrhyn Bay school to give pupils an insight into the work undertaken by Wagtail UK Limited.
PC Williams explained: “The primary purpose of the visit was to demonstrate the search process, but it also provided a positive approach between North Wales Police and Ysgol y Creuddyn in order to safeguard children from the negative stereotyping of young people that so often occurs.”
The Wagtail dogs, which are based in Flintshire and France and work closely in partnership with North Wales Police on a variety of operations, are not only trained to sniff out drugs, they can also find tobacco, explosives, cash, mobile phones, bodies and they are even capable of doing conservation work.
“These dogs have all got high drive, lots of energy and want to retrieve,” said specialist dog handler Helen Evans, as Patch sniffed along a line of volunteers looking for the child who had agreed to hide illegal drugs in his pocket.
“They are trained to identify individuals carrying any form of illegal drugs,” said Helen, pointing out none of their 50 dogs will indicate on prescription medication.
Head teacher Meirion Davies, said: “This was an extremely interesting demonstration of the capabilities of these highly trained dogs. The pupils of all ages thoroughly enjoyed it and the question and answer sessions proved to be very instructive. We would like to express our thanks to PC Williams and North Wales Police for arranging the event