New South Wales police spend more than $9 million a year on sniffer dogs

The New South Wales (NSW) police force spends more than $9 million a year on sniffer dog operations in the Australian state, of which Sydney is the capital.

The Guardian reports NSW police have spent more than $66 million maintaining their sniffer dog unit, which is out in force at all dance music festivals, as well as other public places such as Sydney train stations, since 2010.

Figures provided to the NSW parliament show an average of about $9.42 million per year has been spent on the taxpayer-funded unit’s upkeep, training and operational costs during that time.

Greens MP David Shoebridge, who says the operations are ineffective and a waste of money, put that kind of cash into perspective:

"Added up since 2010 that’s enough to build four brand-new primary schools with a cool $6m left over as change,” Mr Shoebridge told The Guardian.

The NSW Greens have called for sniffer dogs to be banned.

Critics of the operations point out they could lead to panic-induced overdoses when people carrying a couple of pills take them all at once, which has happened on several occasions at festivals in Australia.

Mixmag spoke with David Shoebridge about the NSW government's approach to drugs earlier this year. Read the feature here.

Scott Carbines is Mixmag's Australian Digital Content Editor, follow him on Twitter

[Via: The Guardian]