CHILDREN as young as 11 are being targeted by police with sniffer dogs in a drugs crackdown outside schools.
Officers were waiting for pupils outside the front gate of Walker Community College, Newcastle, yesterday, to test the youngsters as they went into school.
Education chiefs, parents and anti-drugs campaigners have all welcomed the tests, which will also be carried out elsewhere in the city.
The deputy headteacher of the community college, Linda Dalken, said the school had agreed that they could be carried out.
She said: "We are happy for them to test the children and we were glad when we heard that none of our children had drugs on them.
"There is not a drugs problem at the school and this confirms that.
"The police were not on school property, so they didn't need to get consent from parents."
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