SURVEILLANCE BEING DONE ON YOUTH USING ILLEGAL DRUGS

With the high number of school-age boys landing before the courts
for drug possession, police in Grand Bahama say there are
individuals preying on the youth in the community, but a
concentrated surveillance is about to change all of that.

"Drugs and other things are not manufactured in the schools. We're
looking at how they are getting there, what avenues are being used,
where are the sources and who are the persons actually responsible
for that," Superintendent Alexander Roberts assured yesterday.

"We are happy that we have intelligence now which are being
intensified. So I am very confident at this time that in short order
you will be given some success stories."

One juvenile learned a tough lesson last week when he found out that
he would have to spend the next 12 months carrying out community
service for having drugs on his high school campus.

Appearing before the Juvenile Panel, the teenager pleaded guilty to
possession of five grams of Indian Hemp and admitted that he had
been smoking for the last four months.

The court heard that while he was a "good" boy at home and had not
shown any signs of drug use, his grade point average was less than desirable.

The court also learned that the boy was using his lunch money to
purchase the drugs, but he could not say why he began smoking in the
first place.

As a result of the juvenile's guilty plea, he was placed on
probation for one year and ordered by the Juvenile Panel to perform
250 to 300 hours of community service.

The youngster is also expected to undergo counselling with both of
his parents and bring his grades up over the next year.

In breach of this ruling, the teen will serve three months at Her
Majesty's Fox Hill Prison. The magistrate also warned the young man
not to return before her on another charge as he will be 17 in a
year and will face stiffer penalties should he be convicted. Having
been caught and arrested on school campus during school hours, it
was also revealed that the drugs are not only making their way on
the premises, but that the teens need not venture away from school.

Superintendent Roberts pointed out that anything that is not
positive will always be of concern to the police.

"If we don't nip it in the bud it has a tendency to mushroom and
once it develops then it creates additional problems in trying to
rectify it," he said. "We always aim to prevent something from
happening as opposed to allowing it to happen and then trying
to devise plans to rectify it."

Convinced that there are some elements outside of the school
campuses that are trying their hardest to make their way onto the
school campuses, Roberts said the police is stepping up its efforts
to eradicate that dreaded prey.

"What we are finding out is that there are persons who are preying
on our young persons at that age level. We are doing some things. We
are receiving some intelligence. Hopefully in the not too distant
future you should be seeing more of the activities that are going on
around the school," he said.

"We in the police department are really concerned about the number
of young persons going before the court. Before they start living
their lives it is taken away from them. That is a grave concern to
police and obviously we will not stop until we get resources
and programs to reach them."

The senior officer noted that the youth will always be a precious
concern to the police, while adding that he is very concerned about
the far-reaching affect that the neighbourhood policing program has
in the schools.

"That is by measurement. If you look at the amount of persons who
are on the right path in the schools and the kids who are resorting
to drugs and other things you'll see that that is a minority. That
within itself is very encouraging.

"What we are doing in the schools is we are identifying leaders.
Anytime you get one person can get 30. 40. 50 people to go behind
them -- obviously that person has leadership skills -- so instead of
disconnecting with them we partner with him or her and see how best
we can turn that around to be positive," said Roberts.

That, along with a number of other elements in the schools, is being
addressed by police, he added.

"We also want to embrace members of the public to recognize that
they, too, have a part to play because we seriously believe that the
home plus the church plus the school equals success. That success
comes as a result of the togetherness."