RANDOM SCHOOL LOCKER SEARCHES INVASIVE AND UNREASONABLE

Our constitutional right to privacy is not something most Canadians
scramble to defend until their own need for privateness is breached --
then it's too late.

Citizens, including Province readers, often are all too eager to
embrace whatever hardball measures the government deems necessary in
the so-called pursuit of safety, whether it's video surveillance
cameras on public street corners, arbitrary criminal checks on
employees or, since 9/11, sweeping law enforcement powers to search,
seize and/or make arrests.

Now, a Fraser Valley school district plans to let privately-trained
sniffing dogs loose in the corridors of Abbotsford schools in a bid to
flush out drugs kids may have stashed in personal belongings stored in
their lockers. Annually, the canine initiative could cost upwards of
$50,000.

It's the random aspect of the searches that we find particularly
troubling. Surely, students have a right to an expectation of privacy
regarding the content of their lockers, as should shift workers in a
factory. No matter how cautiously these fishing expeditions are
conducted, they infringe on that right. Nor is there any hint that
such meddling will result in the diminished use of drugs in Canadian
high schools.

That's not to suggest it's never the right time to promote such an
invasive measure; school administrators should be asked to apply the
same search and seizure test to a teen's locker as police are required
to do when checking a motorist's car. That is, a search is permissible
if and when a cop has a reasonable belief that a crime (drug
possession) is or is about to be committed.

Yes, drug use among some teens in some high schools is a problem. But,
as privacy commissioners and civil liberties groups are quick to point
out, chipping away at Canadians' constitutional right to privacy with
drug-sniffing expeditions is not the solution, especially when there
are less intrusive measures. Education, counselling and a full-time
liaison officer in all schools, would be far more democratic and
effective in the long term.