More Schools Using Dogs to Sniff Out Drugs

A growing number of educators in the Washington area and across the nation
are bringing drug-sniffing dogs into schools or are considering the idea as
a tool to combat the recent rise in teenagers' use of illegal drugs.

D.C. school officials launched an effort this month to search as many as
two high schools a week. The drug sweeps, conducted sporadically in the
past, were halted altogether a year ago when police canine teams were
ordered to focus on street crime.

In Montgomery County, police have sent a proposal to school officials
offering them the use of the dogs. And in Fairfax County, where the number
of drug sweeps at schools dropped after police began charging for the
service, some school officials say the county should provide extra funding
so that principals who want the random searches can afford them.

In such searches, trained dogs check lockers, restrooms and other common
areas of school buildings but do not sniff students. Supporters of the
sweeps say that although they rarely turn up illegal substances, they are a
powerful deterrent to drug use -- a dramatic statement to the student body
that drugs at school won't be tolerated.

"I see it as [sending] all kinds of positive messages," said Richard Doyle,
the hearing officer who oversees drug cases for the Fairfax school system.
"It says to students, 'I'm going to use all means to keep you safe.' "

But school principals, who usually make the final decision on whether to
invite the dogs, are divided on the tactic, according to police and school
officials. Some principals fear that the seizure of drugs could reflect
badly on them or their schools, school officials said. Other principals, as
well as some civil liberties groups, object because they find the checks
intrusive, although the use of dogs to search school property has been
upheld by the courts.

"We don't like it because it's snooping," said Arthur B. Spitzer, legal
director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington office. "It's a
form of government intrusion, in a place where we think people have a
reasonable expectation of privacy."

The sweeps are among several measures that officials across the country
have taken in response to the rise in the percentage of teenagers using
illegal drugs. Although recent surveys suggest that the percentage may be
leveling off, it remains substantially higher than it was at the beginning
of the 1990s.

Some districts have assigned uniformed officers to schools. Others have
added drug education programs or toughened penalties for drug possession
and sale on school property. In Miami, school officials recently approved
one of the nation's first voluntary drug-testing programs for high school
students.

According to a recent study by the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 76 percent of high school students
and 46 percent of middle school students said last year that drugs were
kept, used or sold at their schools. Students reported having seen more
drug deals at their schools than in their neighborhoods.

"The question is not whether kids are doing drugs at school. We already
know that," said Capt. Jim Charron, commander of the Fairfax police
department's youth services division. "The question is, how are principals
managing the problem? Some believe a hard-line stance is important. Others
believe it is a social issue, not a criminal issue," and should be handled
through other avenues, including drug counseling.

In the District, schools security director Patrick V. Fiel said he and
schools Chief Executive Julius W. Becton Jr. believed the dogs could be an
effective deterrent and successfully lobbied Interim Police Chief Sonya T.
Proctor to make the canine teams available again.

One of the first sweeps under the initiative occurred last week at the
former Hamilton school in Northeast Washington, which now houses several
alternative programs for disruptive youths. A dog found a small bag of
marijuana stashed in a radiator.

At a search earlier this month at Anacostia High School in Southeast, a dog
identified an odor at one site that suggested drugs had been stashed there
within the previous 72 hours, Fiel said.

Fiel said he expects some apprehension about the program from parents and
community leaders, who might envision large German shepherds backing
students up against a wall and sniffing at them. In reality, he said,
police and security officials will be checking lockers, bathrooms and
storage areas while students are in class. "Nowhere near the kids," he said.

Most police departments avoid using their dogs to search people because the
animals are trained to start scratching when they detect drugs, and also
because such searches would be more vulnerable to a legal challenge.

School and police officials acknowledge that many students keep their drugs
on their person, not in their lockers. And they are doing so in
increasingly creative places: under the tongues of tennis shoes, inside
underwear and between jacket linings. Still, the random checks of lockers
and bathrooms will make many youths think twice about bringing drugs to
school and may encourage other students to report suspicious activity,
several officials believe.

Conducting a drug sweep at a school requires a team of canine officers, and
many area police departments have to rely on other jurisdictions to help
them out.

Three months ago, police officers from four Northern Virginia jurisdictions
conducted a drug sweep at Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School, a private
school in Arlington. No drugs were confiscated, although the dogs twice
found a lingering scent.

"You run the risk of a lot of kids getting caught," said the school's
principal, Alward V. Burch. "But I was willing to take that risk. At least
it would send a very strong message."

In Fairfax, most canine officers work the night shift, and county police,
to cut down on their overtime costs, last year began charging the schools
that ordered drug sweeps. The number of sweeps has plummeted since then,
police say, although they do not have figures available. That trend has
alarmed some school officials.

"We need to send a message loud and clear that drugs are not going to be
brought to school," said Fairfax School Board member Mychele B. Brickner
(At Large), who has requested more money for the anti-drug operations.

Michael J. Gough, director of the division of school security in
Montgomery, said that only two principals in that county have requested
drug sweeps in the last seven years. But the district is considering
expanding the practice, he said.

"There are ongoing discussions with the police department on all forms of
drug detection, including drug sweeps," Gough said. "It's a real good
deterrent if it's random, so it's a surprise to students or staff."

Increasingly, school systems across the country are relying on private
companies to provide the dog-sniffing service. One of the largest such
firms, Interquest Group Inc., has contracted with more than 350 school
districts in Texas, Michigan and California.

Michael P. Ferdinand, vice president of the company, said the dog teams
have found drugs as many as 2,000 times in a year. But the company also has
tracked a "significant reduction" over time in the amount of drugs seized
in schools that used the dogs regularly, he said.

Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center in
California, believes that more principals will decide to have drug sweeps
conducted at their schools.

"We're going to see the use of drug dogs increasing dramatically over the
next few years," Stephens said. "If we're going to require kids to attend
school, then we ought to be required to provide safe schools. I would want
to know the extent of the drug problem in my school."

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