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Current News

15 September 2008
From this week, St John’s Shopping Centre in Perth will be opening its doors as the latest training venue for Tayside Police’s specialist ‘sniffer’ dogs. Members of the Tayside Police Dog Section will now be using the shopping centre to train their sniffer dogs to detect drugs. Constable Ron Anderson, the Force’s Dog Training Instructor, said, "Police dogs play an ever increasing role in policing within the community, so training in public areas is essential to hone the dog’s skills and equip both them and their handlers to deal with incidents in all types of environments." "We already train in a number of other commercial properties throughout Tayside such as the Odeon Cinema, Kangaroo self storage, and Tesco’s distribution warehouse. I am delighted that management at the St John’s Shopping Centre have offered us the premises to train in." "Signs advising members of the public will be placed throughout the centre while the training is taking place. Of course, should our dog handlers come across anyone committing a criminal offence, they will deal with it as they would any other crime." Siobhan McConnell, Manager of the St John’s Shopping Centre, said, "This is a proactive initiative that will reassure retailers and law abiding visitors to St John's Shopping Centre that we are committed to ensuring that this is a safe and pleasant place to shop." "We will not tolerate the use or the possession of illegal narcotics on our premesis and are pleased to work in partnership with Tayside Police in respect of this. The Police specialist dogs will work along with our own Security team. The St John's Shopping Centre is already covered by closely monitored CCTV cameras and retailers are linked via Shopsafe Radio enabling all to communicate quickly and effectively. We welcome the training of the dogs in our retail environment."