DOGS JUST SAY NOSE TO DRUGS AT SCHOOLS

Canine Sleuths On The Prowl On Campuses In County

As President Bush renews attention on drug prevention among teens, some
school districts in San Diego County and across the nation are literally
going to the dogs to combat drug use among students.

About a dozen local school districts contract with a private company
that uses drug-sniffing Labrador or golden retrievers to detect drugs,
alcohol and gunpowder in classrooms, students' belongings and locker rooms.

During a recent campus visit in Rancho Pe X asquitos, a handsome golden
retriever named Conan poked his nose into backpacks, lockers and desks,
sniffing for contraband.

The search didn't yield marijuana or beer bottles, but school
administrators don't consider it a waste of time. Hundreds of students saw
Conan in action, and the message is clear: If you bring drugs on campus,
there's a good chance you will be caught.

The search at Westview High in the Poway Unified School District is
repeated most days at middle schools and high schools throughout San Diego
County, including the Escondido, Grossmont, Julian, San Marcos and Valley
Center districts.

The San Diego Unified and Oceanside Unified school districts have used
dogs but abandoned the practice because of budget constraints.

Although drug-sniffing dogs are considered an optional strategy for
drug prevention at schools, 158 districts in California use them.

In San Diego County, about 9 percent of ninth- and 11th-graders
reported having at least one alcoholic drink at school during the previous
30 days, according to the 2001 California Healthy Kids Survey. The same
survey said that about 7 percent of ninth- and 11th-graders reported using
marijuana on school property.

While the use of drug-sniffing dogs on campuses has been challenged
nationwide by the American Civil Liberties Union, courts have ruled that
the practice is legal and is not considered a search if individuals are not
being sniffed.

Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU Drug Policy Litigation Project, said
that while the courts have made it clear that dogs can be used to sniff
lockers and public areas, the practice of dogs sniffing students'
belongings is more of a gray area. The Fourth Amendment protects
individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures, but it comes down to
"your sense of what is reasonable," Boyd said.

ACLU attorneys have said that in many cases students are subjected to
the humiliation of being singled out and searched because a dog mistakenly
signaled that the student's personal property contained contraband.

School officials and dog handlers say there is no such thing as a false
positive. If a dog signals that contraband is in a backpack or purse and
none is found, it means the dog picked up the residual odor of something
that could have been there the day before, said Christine Hazelton of
Interquest Detection Canines.

Interquest, a Houston-based chain, has a local franchise that contracts
with several school districts to conduct random campus visits by
drug-detecting canine teams. The 6,500-student Escondido Union High School
District pays Interquest about $3,000 a year for the service. The Grossmont
Union High School District, with 24,300 students, pays about $27,000 a
year. Hazelton said the cost varies because it depends on the number of
campuses and how many visits each district wants.

Poway, Escondido and Grossmont district administrators said they have
seen a decrease in drug-related disciplinary actions on high school
campuses since the dog visits started several years ago. The school
districts and Interquest could not provide figures on how often the dogs
detected a banned substance on campuses.

Few complaints

School officials said they don't get many complaints about the
searches. Marge Cole, director of student support services at Grossmont
Union, said her district may get one or two parent complaints a year.
Usually it's because a student was embarrassed about being called out of
class because the dog may have detected prescription medication in the
student's belongings.

"Kids aren't supposed to have it. They need to go through the school
nurse, but they won't get in trouble for it," Cole said. Nevertheless,
whispers and rumors may circulate among students.

School officials say most students don't mind the dogs' visits.

"It's not a big deal," said Danny Arbeiter, 17, a senior at Poway High.
"They 're not intrusive, and most of the time they don't find anything. If
they work (at keeping drugs off campus), I think it's fine to use them."

Morgan Bridge, 15, a sophomore at Westview High, said a few students
may consider the searches an invasion of privacy, but she doesn't think
it's a problem.

"If kids have that stuff (drugs or guns) at school, it needs to be
found," she said.

School officials agree.

"We have a responsibility to ensure the safety of our students, within
reason," said Poway Unified trustee Steve McMillan, who also is a San Diego
police officer. "I believe this is within reason."

Oceanside Unified never had a problem with complaints over mandatory
drug testing of student athletes or the use of drug-sniffing dogs, said Joe
Graybeal, administrative assistant with the district.

Although the district discontinued both practices last year because of
budget problems, community opposition was never an issue.

"We were very careful to go into the community and let them know
upfront about plans and solicit input," said Graybeal, a former associate
superintendent with the district.

Oceanside Unified is the only district in the county ever to implement
a mandatory drug-testing program. Grossmont Unified has a voluntary program
done at the request of parents and with the consent of students. The tests
are sent off campus, and only the families get the results.

Graybeal said the Oceanside district probably will resume the use of
dogs and the drug testing when money is available.

Carefully trained

While German shepherd police dogs have a reputation for aggressively
pouncing on objects containing illegal substances or people carrying them,
Interquest's dogs are trained to alert their handlers when they detect
contraband. They are trained not to single out individuals.

"If there's something there, they'll find it," said Bert Hudgins,
director of student attendance and discipline for Poway Unified.

Hudgins and other school administrators praise the canines as good
deterrents. "The kids never know when they're going to be on campus," he said.

Hazelton said that some days nothing is found; other times, something
as innocuous as aspirin turns up. Sometimes methamphetamine or cocaine is
discovered. Through the years, Hazelton's finds have included bongs,
marijuana seeds, six-packs of beer, cigarette papers and firecrackers.

Hazelton, a former La Mesa police officer, said Interquest's dogs
undergo months of training and are certified by the National Narcotic
Detector Dog Association. Hazelton works throughout San Diego County and in
Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

On a typical visit, the dog and its handler are accompanied by a school
administrator to a classroom, locker room or other common area. Students
and teachers are cleared from the vicinity but are asked to leave behind
backpacks and other belongings.

When the dog picks up the scent of contraband, he immediately sits
quietly and looks expectantly at his handler. Handlers have learned their
dog's alert signal and reward the animal with a favorite toy.

If a dog detects contraband in a backpack, the handler informs the
school administrator and leaves the classroom. The student is later asked
to bring his or her belongings to the administrator's office.

"We don't want to be seen leaving the classroom with the student,"
Hazelton said. "We don't want to embarrass anyone."

Once they are in the office, the Interquest representative will explain
to the student that the dog is trained to pick up certain scents and that
one of those scents was detected on the student's belongings.

"We'll ask if they have any idea why the dog alerted us on their
backpack or belongings," Hazelton said.

A recent detection turned out to be the lingering odor of spent shell
casings that had been placed in a student's backpack during a previous
shooting expedition with an adult family member.

If the finding turns out to be something more serious, school officials
take over. Resulting action could be a parent conference, counseling,
suspension or expulsion, depending on the severity.

School administrators said families are notified of the canine searches
at the beginning of the school year, usually in the student-parent
handbook. Hazelton said she also conducts assemblies to familiarize the
students with the dogs and detection procedures.

During a recent visit to Escondido High School, Hazelton brought
2-year-old Mavryk to inspect the locker rooms.

"Check here," she said, tapping on a row of lockers.

As the canine team made its way along a row of lockers, Mavryk stopped
briefly to sniff the leftover morsels of someone's lunch.

"Leave it," Hazelton ordered. The dog complied and moved on.

"He's a highly trained dog," Hazelton said. "But he's still a dog."