RUSTY KEEPS STUDENTS ON THEIR TOES

MILFORD -- Rusty didn't bark his way down the halls of Milford High
School yesterday and, being a drug-sniffing dog from the sheriff's
office, that came as a relief to Milford Police and school officials.

"No drugs in the schools is always a good thing," said Police Chief
Thomas O'Loughlin. "It's a good day."

The morning scent search came on the heels of Thursday's arrest of
Alexander James Piscia, a 17-year-old student charged with possession
of Percocet, marijuana and gabapentin, an anticonvulsant. Rusty,
brought in to investigate the school's suspicion of drugs on campus,
had started barking outside Piscia's black Nissan Altima in the
parking lot, police said.

Police on Monday will apply for a summons to charge Joseph Mucci, 17,
of Milford, with possession of a Class D substance (marijuana) and
possession of alcohol as a minor, which Rusty helped discover during
the parking lot search, police said yesterday.

Yesterday's search inside the school had students on edge, knowing
Rusty barks in the presence of illegal substances including prescription drugs.

"Now they're thinking, 'Geesh, you know, I don't want to take that
risk (of having drugs at school),"' Principal John Brucato said of
the student body.

"I didn't expect that we'd find anything," Brucato said. "It's
basically a follow-up protocol and the most important thing you're
doing is you're sending a message. You want to stir the attention of
the students."

The kids were "extremely docile for a Friday," Brucato reported
yesterday. "The lunchroom always tells you," he said, describing
students standing at attention, being orderly and aware of Rusty's visit.

"He is a particularly talented dog," said Keith Mitchell,
communications director for Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis'
office. "There's not many dogs that would be able to pinpoint
prescription drugs in a vehicle and he's one of them."

At last spring's U.S. Police K-9 Association competitions, the
chocolate Labrador retriever won gold as the best overall indoor
narcotics search dog, and as top dog in the overall narcotics division.

Officials are confident the high school was drug-free yesterday.

"Absolutely," Mitchell said.

The Police Department occasionally brings a drug-sniffing dog into
the school. "We were kind of overdue," O'Loughlin said. "This was a
good opportunity."

Brucato said students have learned their lockers can be searched at
any time, but "I think they forget that when your cars are on school
ground, we can go in there too - and it says it clearly in the
student-parent handbook."

Milford District Court Judge Andrew D'Angelo yesterday continued
Piscia's arraignment to May 30. Piscia, of 38 Iadarola Ave., was
released without bail with the conditions he submit to drug screens
and not drink alcohol, according to court records.

Brucato, who will suspend the two students, hopes bringing Rusty in
works as a "roadblock" to deter students from having drugs.

"I don't want to catch kids making bad decisions," he said.

The dog has helped Milford Police before - including by intercepting
a suspicious mail package in September found to contain 50 controlled
substance pills of Vicodin and Carisoprodol, a muscle relaxer. As a
result, two people were arrested, police said.

Rusty, who is trained by Lt. Mark Kent with the sheriff's department,
has been directly responsible for the seizure of 10 kilos of cocaine,
20 pounds of marijuana, as well as crystal meth, Mitchell said.