Part III: Despite concerns over civil rights, a plan to use dogs to sniff
out contraband at Venice High could be the newest tool as School

OFFICIALS TRY TO TAKE A BITE OUT OF DRUG USE

The company serves about 25 school districts and private schools in
Southern California.

Dogs do not sniff the students, Ferdinand said. Students leave the
classroom before a dog goes to work.

As long as students are not searched, their privacy is maintained,
officials of Interquest and the school district say.

If the dog signals an "alert," the student to whom the suspicious locker,
backpack or desk belongs is questioned by school officials, not police.

Sometimes the dog will arrive on consecutive days to foil those who might
have thought the coast was clear to bring drugs on campus.

Students and parents will learn about the program through a series of
meetings where the dogs will demonstrate their abilities, Jacobs said.

Knowing about the possibility of random visits, he hopes, will deter
students from bringing contraband.

A police department-owned Labrador named Skeeter visited Culver City High
School about three times last spring but did not find contraband, which
Principal Marvin Brown counted as a success.

He said a small, vocal group of parents initially opposed the program but
that he heard no negative feedback once it began.

Culver City High students, he said, devoted much space in the student
newspaper to denounce the program, contending that it violated their rights
and would not be effective.

But, he said, administrators found fewer students with drugs on campus in
the spring semester than in the previous one when other methods were used.

"It's not absolute proof, but it is an interesting thing," Brown said.

Dogs have also been used to detect drugs in Temple City. If the program
proves useful at Venice, it could be a sign of things to come throughout
the Los Angeles district, said board member Fields.

"Should it turn out to be a gung-ho success, we'd want to go ahead and
publicize it to other schools," she said. "If it will discourage kids from
using drugs, that would be wonderful."

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)