drugs check of prison officers on Friday.

But he acknowledged the search could have been done differently and pledged to have future checks carried out in a more private, possibly less obtrusive way.

"We will find other ways to make the officers feel less exposed as they felt on this occasion,'' Mr. Edward Dyer said of Friday's search by a drug sniffing dogs in a Ferry Reach Prison Farm yard.

"I personally don't have a serious problem with the way the search was done, though it could have been carried out in a different way.'' Mr. Dyer made the statement after meeting his senior officers, representatives of the Prison Officers Association and Social Services Minister the Hon.

Quinton Edness.

He said the Association agreed on the need to keep prisons drug free, but stressed serious reservations about the conduct of Friday's search in which officers were made to stand in line while dogs sniffed around them.

"They still have concerns,'' he said of the Association, which is planning a public statement on the issue.

The Association was particularly critical of the possibility prisoners and their visitors to the Farm could have seen the search.

Mr. Dyer said prisoners did not see it because they were "on the other side of the hill''. In addition, visitors did not witness anything because they were late for scheduled appointments.

"It could have happened if they had arrived earlier,'' he said. At the meeting with the Association, Mr. Dyer said its members concurred with the primary objective to keep the prisons drug free.

He said they did not dispute the rationale for a search. Rather, they wanted it carried out in a more private setting and possibly more discreetly such as using dogs in a passageway as at the Civil Air Terminal with incoming passengers.

Last night, he told The Royal Gazette that the plan for a random search was known among the officers and that it was triggered in part by continuing rumours that drugs were being slipped into prison by guards.

"I am delighted they found nothing,'' he said. "To some extent, we were responding to allegations that drugs were being brought into the prison. Only two people knew of this search.'' Mr. Dyer added that such searches are standard procedures at other prisons.

Mr. Edness earlier noted that random checks had found prisoners testing positive for drugs. Although the testing had helped cut down the amount of drugs in prisons they continued to get in.

"There have been continuing rumours of officers bringing drugs in,'' he said.

"We don't know that, but drugs continue to get in so therefore we have this kind of investigation.'' Mr. Edness emphasised his praise for the Prisons Service and the work it does.

"We have some outstanding people and by and large it's a first class service.

To keep it that way, it's right to subject itself to searches for drugs. They will help maintain the Services' long-term credibility.

"Any officers who have their heart and soul in the Service would want to have it clean. This is the first step of a new policy that is standard elsewhere. I think the actual process of searching may have to be changed, but in essence all of the men should support it.'' Mr. Edness rejected Association president Mr. Russell Richardson's call for an internal investigation of the conduct of Friday's search.