TAKE A STAND ON POLICE 'TACTICS'

The passage of a week has failed to quell complaints about a drug raid
at Stratford High School, as witnessed by the public response at a
school board hearing. Small wonder. Most parents would be
understandably irate over having police hold their children at
gunpoint. They should be gratified to hear the Berkeley County School
District superintendent say that it won't happen again. They should
hear it from the school board as well. Superintendent Chester Floyd
had earlier said that neither the school principal nor other district
officials knew that officers would come into the school with guns
drawn. On Tuesday night, he repudiated that action.

"I don't believe these particular tactics are acceptable. I am sure
that everyone is going to learn some lessons from this," he said. The
board should have repudiated the strong-arm police tactics as well.

The drug sweep resulted in no arrests, though a dozen students were
handcuffed by police during the raid. No drugs or weapons were found.
On Monday, Dr. Floyd said if police believed that students had guns,
they should have attempted to isolate them outside, rather than in the
school building where there were other students.

There is a SLED investigation under way and, as Dr. Floyd noted, it is
concerned with the police and not the district. The city of Goose
Creek is waiting for the completion of the independent investigation
before it responds, because the police are in its employ.

The school board, however, doesn't have to wait for SLED to finish the
investigation before it offers assurances to parents and students that
such a scene will never be replayed, under similar circumstances, in a
Berkeley County school again. The board should make its position clear
in view of the intemperate and inappropriate police action of last
week.