Police used drug dogs to search a group of first-year secondary school kids (aged 16) on their way on a field trip, igniting criticism from civil rights workers and lawyers, who say the search was illegal.
Vísir reports that no drugs were found on any of the freshmen of Breiðholt College (FB). Vice principal Magnús Ingvason defended the police action, saying it was only done for “preventative reasons”. He added that this is not the first time this has been done.
Not everyone is so dismissive, however. Björgvin Mýrdal, the director of civil rights group Snarrótin, told reporters that these police methods are counterproductive and ineffective.
“What we’re seeing here is the application of very old intimidation tactics that have many times been shown to have little effect on achieving their purpose,” he said. “It’s just populism.”
Björg Valgeirsdóttir, a lawyer for the law offices of DIKA, told reporters that the search was illegal. There was no probable cause for a search, for one, and in order for this search to be remotely legal, it would require the pre-approval of a judge. Neither one of those elements were at play in this operation.
Police have not yet issued a statement regarding this operation or the criticism thereof at the time of this writing.
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