DETERRING VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS

Brevard Should Use K-9 Dogs For Drug Hunting

The passive dismissal of school security among those tasked to
educate our children continues to baffle me.

It astounds me that in today's climate of violence, with very real
threats to our way of life, that our security needs are not met with
more vigilance.

Take the case of Central Middle School in West Melbourne, which had
six bomb threats in one month.

In the first five incidents, the school was evacuated and building
searched by a trained bomb-sniffing dog. But the sixth time school
administrators, who did not want further "disruptions," chose not to
allow law enforcement officers to search the school.

They claimed the staff had already dealt with the situation
appropriately, a decision that potentially put the lives of our
children at risk.

Each threat, no matter how repetitious, needs to be handled with the
same resolve as if it were the first and as if it were very real.

Last year I attended a special executive training given by the U.S.
Secret Service focusing on school violence and the strong potential
of terrorist attacks on our schools.

Experts strongly believe our schools are a primary target on the
terrorist radar. We need to take more measures to make our schools safe.

As a chief who sits on a national committee on evolving new
technologies, great strides have been made in detection of firearms
and explosives. However, this technology is extremely expensive and
as a result is not accessible to local jurisdictions or schools.

But there is a non-technology alternative that is both cost effective
and extremely popular. It involves the use of trained bomb and
weapons detection K-9s that are also capable of drug detection.

These dogs provide an all encompassing deterrent to violence and drug
possession and should be based in our schools with trained law
enforcement officers. These dogs are people-friendly labrador
retrievers, golden retrievers and beagles that produce a
non-invasive, non-disruptive deterrent.

In a 2007 National Citizen Survey given to Palm Bay residents, 92
percent of the respondents supported the use of these dogs in our schools.

Unfortunately, when we in Palm Bay attempted to introduce these
loveable K-9s, the Brevard County school superintendent dismissed the
idea, claiming, among other excuses, allergies or not having the
proper facilities to secure the dogs on campus.

Our school administrators should look no further than Martin County
where dogs have been roaming the school hallways for years, acting
mainly as a deterrent for drugs.

The Martin County Sheriff's School Resource Officers use these dogs
frequently to perform random checks of classrooms, lockers,
backpacks, and parking lots, touting them as highly effective in their mission.

The benefits of these specially trained K-9s compensate for the
strong objections voiced by their opponents in Brevard County
schools. Why not use the tools available to us to improve the safety
of our schools and our children?

Let's not wait until there is a tragedy to do the right thing.

Berger is chief of police in Palm Bay.