ON THE PROWL FOR DRUGS: TEAMS OF OFFICERS, DOGS FIND NOTHING IN SEARCH

Students expressed mixed feelings Wednesday after a swarm of police
officers and drug sniffing dogs swept through area schools and parking lots.

In the first of what is expected to be several surprise searches at
Washington County schools this year, no drugs were found.

Officers searched Fort Frye High School, Frontier High School and
Newport Elementary School on Wednesday.

"The bottom line is we're happy we didn't find anything. We'd rather
find nothing than something. It indicates our teachers and students
are doing things right," said Maj. John Winstanley of the Washington
County Sheriff's Office.

Fort Frye senior Shayna Cochran said she was scared when school
officials announced the school was going into a "lock-down mode."

All doors and windows at the school were locked and lights were
turned off. Students were asked to sit quietly in their classrooms
until the end of the 20-minute sweep.

"At first I thought something was really wrong until I learned what
was going on," Cochran said. "It was a little scary."

Cochran said after she calmed down she was glad to know the school
was being searched and that nothing was found.

"I think it's a good thing," Cochran said. "No one wants drugs in
their school."

Because parking lots and school lockers are owned by the school
districts, they are subject to searches. Officers only searched
lockers and vehicles where dogs indicated drugs may be present.

In all, eight lockers and five vehicles were searched.

Frontier senior Malkom Kidd said his school has been searched four
or five times for drugs since he was a freshman.

"I think it's good and bad. I don't like seeing kids get caught like
that ... But maybe getting caught it will help them quit."

Kidd said he would have been upset if his vehicle or locker had been
searched. He questioned why no drugs were found if the dogs alerted.

Deputy Randy Stackpole of the Washington County Sheriff's Office
said police dogs are able to detect the smell of drugs in vehicles,
lockers or on clothing long after the drugs are gone.

"The dogs all alert to the odor. The student may have been at a
party or around someone and the smell could have gotten on their
clothes or backpack," Stackpole said. "Just because the narcotic
isn't there doesn't mean it wasn't there. The dogs can still detect it."

In addition to the Washington County Sheriff's Office, officers from
Parkersburg Police Department, Wood County Sheriff's Office, New
Lexington Police Department and Hocking County Sheriff's Office
assisted in the search.

A total of seven dogs and more than a dozen officers participated.