DRUG SEARCHES COMING UP EMPTY IN SCHOOLS

The principal's voice booms over the intercom, telling students to
stay in their classrooms.

Two police dogs begin sniffing their way through school halls while
students sit in lockdown mode, studying and waiting. Officers lead the
dogs along locker banks, into a few classrooms emptied of students,
and finally weave among student cars in the parking lot.

It's a drug sweep -- a scene repeated dozens of times each year in
local high schools.

This recent one at Hudsonville High School found no drugs, just
cigarettes in a backpack.

That makes it typical -- most sweeps these days turn up
nothing.

After 10 years of random checks in local schools, students know it's a
bad idea to bring drugs, police and administrators say.

While a few schools are cutting back on their searches because of the
lack of results, most school leaders plan to use them once or twice a
year as a deterrent.

Rockford administrators, believe so strongly in the message searches
send they've paid for 15 this year.

"Success isn't finding something, it's not finding anything," said
Ottawa County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Petroelje, whose Dutch Shepherd,
Roy, helped search Hudsonville last month. "That means kids are being
deterred from bringing drugs to school."

"Random searches are proactive," said Larry Johnson, security director
in Grand Rapids. He said the last "hit" by a dog was for marijuana
eight years ago.

Today "when the police dogs hit, it's almost always residue, not
actual drugs. Knowing the dogs come keeps drugs out of school," he
said.

In Rockford, Bob Goethel began as school security director nine years
ago. Back then, a search usually resulted in one or two students
prosecuted for drugs or paraphernalia, he said.

"That doesn't happen much anymore," said Goethel, a retired Grand
Rapids police captain. "There hasn't been a single hit in at least our
last two searches."

Most schools rely on a local police agencies to provide free searches.
That's how Grand Rapids handles it, and in Ottawa County districts use
free searches provided by the sheriff's department.

The free service usually limits districts to a couple of searches a
year. And police dogs are narrowly trained to sniff out illegal drugs.
Dogs that detect gun powder are brought to school only if there's been
a bomb threat.

In Kent County, many districts pay private security firms, which offer
flexible scheduling and package deals for frequent checks. Their dogs,
often hunting breeds, are cross-trained to detect alcohol, explosives
and legal drugs that are abused, such as Ritalin, Vicodin and OxyContin.

The 7,800-student Rockford district is paying the company Interquest
$5,000 this year for 15 searches. Kelloggsville, a 2,150-student
district, contracted for nine searches at $300 each. Another firm, DK
Security, charges $250 to $1,000 a search, depending on school size.

A few schools have decided they can ease up on searches.

Holland High has gone without for two years because the dogs weren't
turning up much, Principal Bill Trujillo said.

"Kids aren't stupid. If they have that stuff, they don't bring it to
school," he said.

In Wyoming, Assistant Superintendent Coni Sullivan said schools prefer
to underscore the "don't use drugs" message through education rather
than police searches.

Forest Hills hasn't been doing canine searches. But it hasn't ruled
them out either, said Karen Lott, community services director. Leaders
actively discuss pros and cons with parent groups.

Searches first became popular a decade ago as part of a national
school safety trend. Many districts hired safety officers who had the
time and knowledge to schedule sweeps, said Jim Gainey, Kelloggsville
safety director. The 1999 Columbine massacre fueled concerns.

In some parts of the country, dog searches brought complaints of a
"police state" for students, but locally the practice is accepted.

During the Hudsonville search, faces of many students brightened when
they spotted dogs Roy and Tyson.

The dogs are not allowed to sniff students, considered an invasion of
privacy. Most firms and police prefer dogs trained to indicate a "hit"
by sitting, not pawing. There's less damage that way, Grand Rapids
officer Mark Mathis said.

Students usually are cooperative, Hudsonville school liaison officer
Cora Goff said. A few years ago a dog "hit" on a student's car, and
the student voluntarily emptied his jeans pocket of a small bag of
marijuana, she said.

Schools are on safe ground legally as long as the student handbook
includes a statement that lockers and parking lots are school property
and subject to random searches, said Jim Ballard, who directs the
Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals.

Searches are used by most Michigan schools, he said. Private schools,
including Grand Rapids Catholic Central and Holland Christian, also
use dog searches.

"There's no technology that can beat the nose of a dog," said
Petroelje, the Ottawa County deputy. "They smell odors at
concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can."

He showed what Roy can do by hiding a quarter pound of marijuana in an
empty Hudsonville classroom. The drug was in paper, enclosed in
plastic and put in a closed plastic cupboard.

Roy found the stash in seconds.