Video: Out in town with Rufus – police send message “Don’t come to Wrexham to use drugs”

Officers in Wrexham, assisted by a specially trained drug scanning dog, targeted Wrexham town centre yesterday as part of an ongoing effort to tackle and deter drug dealing and other forms of antisocial behaviour in the town.

Several arrests had already taken place by the time we joined local police to observe the drugs dog in action. We spoke with town centre officer PC Dave Evans, who said it was was of ongoing work to disrupt drug use in the town, and to hopefully hammer home the message to those involved to ‘go somewhere else’ than Wrexham.

You can watch Rufus in action, with PC Dave Evans explaining the work taking place below:

It appears the use of the drugs dog for operations such as this was previously rare, however there is a clear warning for users and dealers that similar work could now take place at any time in and around the Wrexham area.

Walking the streets of Wrexham with Rufus sniffing everyone was an interesting experience, with many people keen to say hello to the dog, or praise the police for their high visibility patrol. Several also changed direction after spotting the dog and were promptly sniffed up, and then unsurprisingly searched.

As the video shows, a walk through town can change to a stop and search in an instant. We were commenting on how Rufus seemed keen on a McDonalds lunch, when seconds later two men walking past had triggered the dog prompting a search. Not everyone searched had drugs on them, however most without explained they had previously used or had come into contact with illegal substances.

Handler PC Steve Jukes explained that Rufus associates the smells of various drugs with a dog toy or ball, so when the dog smells drugs a reward is soon on its way.

Most encounters were quite placid, with the added benefit of a dog being the trigger for a search is that it is quite hard to argue with it. Previously we were told offence could be taken by individuals stopped for a search, whereas a very happy dog looking for a game indicating possible drugs changes the dynamic of the encounter.

Walking through the bus station Rufus was ‘scanning’ away and was drawn to a young man waiting for a bus. We thought that would be another calm encounter, and was proceeding that way we thought we would get some b-roll film of a happy Rufus being rewarded with some tennis ball action. Seconds later the stop and search escalated to an emergency ‘red’ call for all officers nearby to assist, with the individual making a bolt to escape as well as concerns they may have a weapon in their hands.

Wrexham Sgt Simon Williams added, “The high visibility patrols are particularly aimed disrupting illegal drug activity and our scanning dog, Rufus is able to detect and indicate whether an individual is carrying illegal substances as we walk through the town.”

“If someone is carrying drugs we will take the appropriate action.”

“We understand that residents, shoppers and businesses have concerns about antisocial behaviour in the town centre and I hope that these patrols will demonstrate that we are working, together with the council, to tackle these issues so that people feel safe and comfortable going about their business.”