SCHOOL SAFETY TECHNOLOGY TOUTED

WASHINGTON - Instant drug detectors, hair-sample testing kits,
and electronic scanners identifying students by handprint could be put
in more of the nation's schools under a $10 million Senate proposal.

Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., renewed their
call for the money on Wednesday with a demonstration of the latest in
school technology.

``None of this is being presented as something that would have
prevented the tragedy in Colorado,'' said Bingaman, referring to last
week's fatal shooting of 14 students and a teacher at a high school in
a Denver suburb. ``We are saying there are constructive things that
can be done with the use of technology.''

Bingaman helped demonstrate a drug-testing chemical by sticking his
hand in a bag of marijuana. After Bingaman was fingerprinted, a
chemical spray turned them red, revealing the presence of the illegal
drug. The test costs about $1 per use.

Other products included hidden security cameras, costing up to $1,200
apiece, for classrooms and a $2,200 ``hand-geometry'' scanner, which
would be attached to doors to allow entry only for authorized
students, teachers, or even custodial parents.

Some technology could be too expensive for schools, said Gordon Smith
of the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories in
Albuquerque, N.M., which demonstrated the products.

One example is a device, now under development and expected to cost as
much as $150,000, that detects traces of bomb-making material.

Sandia, a nuclear facility also working on security equipment for
schools, would get $2 million a year under the Senate proposal to
create a school security center.

``Schools have to carefully consider what they purchase and whether it
meets their needs,'' said Sandia's Mary Green, who helped write an
upcoming school-security manual for the National Institute for
Justice, which helps with Justice Department research. ``There are
definitely products out there that leave something to be desired.''

Bingaman said an Albuquerque, N.M., high school using some of the
Sandia technology has had dramatic declines in violent, property and
other crimes since 1997.

The school security plan, dropped from a Senate spending bill last
year, should have more support this year, Hutchinson said. ``We hope
to get it on the Senate agenda,'' he said.

The Senate's education committee plans to discuss school safety
legislation next week, spokesman Joe Karpinski.