POLICE CHIEF SUPPORTS DRUG SEARCHES AT HIGH SCHOOL

NARRAGANSETT -- Chief J. David Smith will present a report to the
School Committee next week that may lead to a new policy on using dogs
to conduct searches for drugs at Narragansett High School.

The random searches would be done in tandem with new anti-terrorism
safety requirements that require schools to do periodic lockdowns or
"sheltering-in-place" drills.

Smith and Supt. Pia M. Durkin are drafting a letter to parents with
children in the town's school system. Officer Randy D. Shields, the
school's resource officer, will brief students to prepare them for
something that police and school officials said is a necessary measure.

The purpose of the report is to share information with the community,
based on a series of meetings among the police, School Committee and
members of the School Department. Votes on the policy would happen at
a later meeting.

"We just keep getting information from the students themselves, from
the parents, from the arrests that we're making, that continues to
tell us that it's just a pernicious problem," Smith said.

According to a recent survey conducted by the University of Rhode
Island, 45 percent of high school students in Narragansett and
Barrington said someone had tried to sell them drugs in school -- the
highest rates in the state.

"My obligation," Durkin said, "is to make sure that students are kept
from those discussions and that we do have a drug-free environment,
and that any discussions that are being held about that don't take
place at school and that there are no drugs at school -- or anywhere
near it."

Durkin said the searches would be part of a continuing effort to
create a safe learning environment for students. The school used dogs
to perform a search last year, based on information that drugs were in
the school. But in a meeting last week with members of the student
council, Durkin said, some of them called the search ludicrous because
it was done before school started.

Students who attend school dances are also subject to random tests for
alcohol before being allowed to enter the building.

"I feel we have a School Committee, a Town Council and the respective
administrations that want to work together to try to protect the
rights of the students that don't want [drugs in school]," Smith said.
"They don't want to see it, they don't want to hear about it, they
don't want to smell it. This is something we can do for them."

Smith said random drug searches are not uncommon in the state, but
this may be the first time that a school timed its periodic
inspections with the lockdowns.

Students would remain inside their classrooms and may not even see a
dog the entire time, Smith said. The police would check specific
sites, not the entire school campus. But because students and most
faculty would be in their respective classrooms, few would know the
areas that were searched.

"What we want to do is balance our needs and goals with the need to
respect the dignity of the school campus as well," Smith said. "We
don't want to have an occupied state."

Durkin and Smith stressed that the searches would be of places, not
people. During the 20- to 30-minute lockdowns, at least two dogs would
patrol common areas such as lockers and parking lots. If one dog
indicates drugs may be present, the second dog would have to
independently confirm the suspected location before the police would
have probable cause to search that location.

"If we do this periodically and we come up with nothing," Smith said,
"then I think we have a victory in the sense that we can continue to
tell our parents and our kids that we don't have any drugs on the
campus -- at least in the areas we searched.

"And that's much better than I can tell them right now . because I
don't know."