ACLU QUESTIONS ASPECTS OF DRUG SEARCH IN SCHOOLS

DEER LODGE - Students and parents in Deer Lodge thanked school officials
Friday for bringing a drug-sniffing dog into the schools.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union said some aspects of
Thursday's search violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable
searches and seizures.

Powell County High School Superintendent Mike Doyle was interrupted during
Friday by community members who were pleased with the search that lead to
the arrests of four high school students.

"Students say 'it's about time we did something about this,' " Doyle said.
"People in the community, both those with students and without, have given
us nothing but positive responses."

The dog's perusal was prompted by the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force,
which for the past eight months has been tracing the sale of marijuana,
methamphetamine, LSD and psilocybin in Deer Lodge. Using informants, the
task force bought drugs from nine people, eight of whom have been arrested
and four of whom were high school students.

Doyle said the locker search policy has been in place at the high school for
five years and at the junior high for four. Dogs come into the schools at
random about once a year.

Students and parents are required to sign a letter at the beginning of the
year stating that they read the student handbook which explains the policy.
Junior high students are tested on the conduct policies, including drug
searches.

The dogs are trained to pick up traces of alcohol, drugs, tobacco and
firearms.

DuVall Junior High Principal Pat Rogers said the dog sniffed the rows of
lockers and the students' backpacks. Afterward, the school had an assembly
explaining what happened.

"We go out of our way to make sure the rights of students and parents are
upheld," Rogers said Friday. "We've had several students come up and say
they were glad we did this. Parents have also told us they supported our
no-tolerance policy."

While school officials heard only positive responses Friday, the search
raised a red flag with the Montana American Civil Liberties Union, which
compared the searches to being in a police state.

"They are pushing the envelope on this every time they do it," said Scott
Crichton, executive director of the Montana ACLU in Billings. "They're right
about the lockers (being school property), but where they're pushing the
line - and where the lines probably aren't clear - is when they are
searching kids themselves and going into the parking lot."

The dog, which was rented for $600 from a private Laurel-based company,
found nothing suspicious in the lockers or bags at the junior high school.
The canine, however, sniffed substances in six high school lockers and 18
cars parked in the school's lot.

Of those, three cars were found to have small amounts of marijuana and
another had tobacco. Out of 350 students, three were charged with drug
possession and a fourth was cited for being under 18 and having cigarettes.

Two students protested the search of their cars, which lead the Powell
County sheriff's office to get warrants and then search the cars.

Crichton asked for students who were affected by the searches to call the
ACLU and possibly help them establish a court case against dog-sniffing
policies.