FILMON: LOCKERS, DESKS FAIR GAME

Cops should search for guns, weapons

Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon said he'd give police more freedom to search
school lockers for weapons and drugs.

Referring to Supreme Court and Manitoba Court of Appeal decisions which
allow locker searches without warrants, Filmon said a re-elected Tory
government would amend provincial legislation to declare students' desks
and lockers public property.

"Drugs and weapons have no place in our neighbourhood, let alone in our
schools," Filmon said at a kennel in Rosser where police dogs are trained.

"Getting tough on drugs and weapons in our schools will help us make our
schools safer and better places to learn."

Beginning this fall, students would be given written notice telling them it
is a "privilege" to use a locker or storage space on public school
property, and that they may be subject to searches.

Filmon said the announcement is the first in the Tories' plan to make
Manitoba schools safer.

Added costs for this initiative would be covered under the $15 million the
government announced in June for more police officers.

"Parents shouldn't have to worry about safety when they're sending their
children to school," Filmon said.

Sisler High School students Sarah Denchuk, Melissa Knott and Victoria
Millitaire reacted angrily to news their lockers could be searched by
police without a warrant.

"Your locker is the only personal thing you have in the whole school. You
have a right to that privacy," said Denchuk, 16.

But NDP justice critic Gord Mackintosh said Filmon's announcement was
simply showmanship, because the Supreme Court decision already gives police
the right to search with the permission of school administrators.

"It's a lot of noise about an issue that's already been solved, as far as I
can see," Mackintosh said.

Justice Minister Vic Toews said the Tory policy would put guidelines in
place to specify in what circumstances police should be brought in.

"It would give school authorities more confidence in terms of how to react
in particular situations," Toews said.

Cameron Newmann, the Libertarian party's candidate in Elmwood, said the PC
announcement is a "cheap ploy" to garner votes by playing on adults'
suspicion of teenagers.

"My concern is with the civics lesson these kids are getting," Newmann
said. "As these kids grow up, what will they be willing to accept 20 years
down the road?"