DRUG DOGS READY TO START WORKING AT HIGH SCHOOLS

SCOTTSDALE - Everything is on track for drug-sniffing dogs to search
Scottsdale high schools once classes begin Aug. 22.

The dogs recently made their first practice run through three of the
Scottsdale Unified School District's high schools.

District officials were on hand at Chaparral and Desert Mountain high
schools as Scottsdale police planted drugs in a locker. They watched as the
dogs quickly sniffed out the drugs. advertisement

"Those dogs are darn good," Scottsdale Superintendent John Baracy said.

Monday, the dogs roamed Coronado High School.

The random searches will happen while students are in class. The dogs will
be used primarily to search school lockers. The searches will not disrupt
the educational setting, Baracy said.

The program will be evaluated after one year.

The Scottsdale School Board voted in May to use the dogs for random
searches on high school campuses as a response to an investigation by
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who said a drug ring was targeting
Scottsdale students because of their wealth.

A practice run will also be conducted at Saguaro High School before school
starts. The district is still talking with Phoenix police about conducting
searches at Arcadia High School, which is part of the district but within
Phoenix city limits, Baracy said.

The dogs are one part of the district's program to deter drug use. District
officials also plan to phase in a new drug-prevention curriculum this fall.

Scottsdale isn't the first district to use dogs to combat drugs. The
neighboring Paradise Valley School District had drug-sniffing dogs on its
high school campuses in the late 1990s, but officials stopped the searches
after they failed to turn up drugs.