RANDOM DRUG RAIDS TARGET HIGH SCHOOLS

Swarming 'A Proactive Move'

Calgary police are conducting random raids on all high schools throughout
the city in an effort to crack down on illegal drug activity.

Since the beginning of the school year teams of seven officers swarm a
different school on a weekly basis, catching students in the throes of drug
use.

Police monitor the area surrounding a particular school for up to several
hours.

As a result of the latest blitz, at Bishop Paul O'Byrne senior high school
in the southeast, 13 students were suspended Tuesday for five days for
using marijuana near the LRT parking lot across the street.

A small amount of pot was seized but no charges were laid.

The new enforcement program is aimed at educating students and parents on
the perils of using drugs, in addition to nabbing people selling to kids,
police say.

Once a student is caught, police then escort the offending student back to
school for disciplinary measures by the administration.

"It's a proactive move," said the school's resource officer, Const. Dwayne
Peace. "We use discretion in that we could go through the courts but we owe
it to the kids and parents to present another option if it's their first time."

The raid list was drawn up at random by Calgary police in September and
each school will be targeted once. The most recent crackdown was the year's
fifth, so far.

"We target all high schools," Peace said. "No one school is more different
than another."

Once the rotation is complete, the officers will reconvene and reassess the
program before deciding whether to continue.

This "drug swarming" is part of school resource officers' larger plan to
educate and inform students.

Once students are suspended, they must participate in an intake program
prior to being reinstated.

Parents and suspended students are expected to attend a drug education
lesson with Peace in which, among other issues, he addresses the legal
implications of drug use as well as the physical dangers.

A spokesman for the Calgary Catholic school district said the board has a
zero-tolerance policy on drug use.

"We take this very seriously," spokesman Graham White said Wednesday.

White said each of the 13 students at Bishop O'Byrne will also be expected
to write a letter to the administration indicating they are willing to make
the appropriate changes and justify why they should be allowed back to class.

"They have to confirm that they will participate in the intake program and
not continue to use illegal substances," White said.