SCHOOLS BRING IN PRO TO SNIFF OUT TROUBLE

Two Pierce County school districts are unleashing a new tool to help
keep contraband off school grounds: a young yellow Labrador retriever
named Nugit.

Bethel and Eatonville plan surprise searches by the privately
contracted dog to sniff out illegal drugs, alcohol and guns in student
lockers and backpacks therein or in cars.

The use of dog searches, more common to schools in central and eastern
Washington, Oregon and Idaho, seems to be catching on in the South
Sound. Random searches began at Steilacoom High School in November and
have resulted in one suspension for possession of marijuana. They
could begin in Bethel and Eatonville in the next month.

School officials say they intend the searches as a deterrent and add
they are not responding to a growing problem with contraband.

"We don't have a drug problem per se," said Bethel schools spokesman
Mark Wenzel. "This represents the school board being assertive and not
reactive to widespread drug use in our schools."

Eatonville Superintendent Ray Arment would rather deter the growth of
contraband than punish students with suspensions.

"We would much rather prevent a problem than apprehend someone,"
Arment said.

Larger urban school districts in this region typically call on police
dogs to do searches if security officials suspect a growing problem.
But in several rural and suburban districts so far, school boards have
hired private canine companies to help security officials ferret it
out.

Bethel's research found similar contracts in Mukilteo, Ferndale, Sedro
Woolley, Mount Vernon and Montesano, Wenzel said.

The owner of a Graham dog search franchise thinks the trend has grown
in outlying areas because that's where he's focused his early sales
calls.

"We market to smaller school districts at first so that we can get our
foot in the door," said Keith Davis, the local representative of
Houston, Texas-based Interquest Detection Canines. He said schools are
signing up for short-term, trial experiments until the end of this
school year.

"Nobody in this region is signing us up beyond the end of this school
year so far," Davis said.

An official of Seattle's American Civil Liberties Union took issue
with the practice, but said the organization plans no legal challenge.

"We object because these are suspicionless searches," said Doug Honig,
the ACLU's public education director. "In that regard, it teaches a
bad civics lesson."

The searches are based on federal and state case law that provides
schools with an exception to the Fourth Amendment guarantee of
protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, said Tom
McBride, executive secretary of the Washington Association of
Prosecuting Attorneys.

"You use dog searches for the same reason you have to walk through a
metal detector at the airport, or at the courthouse," McBride said.
"Courts have held that schools have special needs to provide students
a safe learning environment."

It's a practice with potential pitfalls if schools target specific
students, McBride said.

"If I were a defense attorney, I would move to suppress evidence if a
student was targeted without the use of a warrant," McBride said.

Davis said dogs may establish suspicion but do not begin sniffing
because of it. He uses 17-month-old Nugit only on lockers, in common
areas, and outside of students' cars on school property. He cannot
legally use the dog to sniff an individual student, so searches
typically are done during class or after school.

Davis said it's up to school officials to decide whether to take
action.

Wenzel said principals typically have discretion to forgive a student
or choose to suspend for up to 90 days.

Nugit has searched Steilacoom High School, and officials plan to have
her search Bethel and Eatonville's junior and senior highs after
introductory assemblies in about a month.

Breeds that have what Davis called a "high hunt drive" tend to work
best in searches. His company tends to use Labs, golden retrievers and
Brittany spaniels.

"We tend to find good dispositions in good hunting dogs," Davis
said.

The dog signals a "hit" by sitting down. Davis said he asks Nugit to
make two hits before raising suspicion about a student.

After a hit, a principal can ask a student to open a car, backpack or
locker to look for contraband.

In the Bethel district, most Spanaway Lake High School students don't
object to the searches, said Brendon Kepner, editor of On Guard, the
school newspaper.

"Some in the stoner crowd are apprehensive, but the majority think
it's a good idea or they don't care," he said. "There's really not a
large concern here."

In an opinion essay in On Guard, student Jennifer Lind wrote in favor
of the searches.

"It is illegal to bring drugs and paraphernalia to school," she wrote.
"Now, that law is going to be enforced."

Wenzel said he thought it "far-fetched" that students could be called
into question by someone planting contraband in lockers, packs or cars.

"It would be hard to set somebody up because they're unannounced
searches," he said. "My hope would be that a kid could plead his case."

Random checks showed that the Tacoma, Puyallup, Federal Way and Sumner
school districts have no immediate plans to hire dog search companies.

Davis said he expects more Western Washington school districts to try
services such as his. He said his company has contracts with 10
districts in central and eastern Washington, and about 1,300 districts
nationwide.

Wenzel said Bethel's $6,500 contract with Interquest expires at the
end of this school year. He said the district might extend the
contract depending on next year's budget.

Gary Martin, principal of Steilacoom High School, defended the use of
dog searches.

"It makes some kids uneasy but it very much works as a deterrent," he
said. "Every school district in the U.S. has some drugs; we're just a
microcosm of the communities we're in."

The parents of the one suspended Steilacoom High student support the
service, Martin said.

"They were very happy to find out because they didn't have a clue
their son was in possession," Martin said. "Most parents today want
their kids to be safe at school."