DRUG STING

Falmouth High was the right place, at the right time.

If school officials refused to cooperate with police in reducing
illegal drug activity at the high school, if teachers and students
turned a blind eye to "minor" drug buys at the school, if just one
student overdosed on drugs, parents would be furious.

"We demand zero tolerance," they would cry. They would also be the
first to point their fingers at the police and schools for failing to
protect their children.

Instead, some parents and "experts" are now criticizing police and
school officials for an undercover drug sting operation that nabbed
nine Falmouth High students.

A 23-year-old sheriff's department employee documented 32 drug buys
during a nearly four-month investigation. Twenty of those were made
at the high school. At the home of one of the students, officers
reportedly found $3,500 in cash and more than $6,000 worth of marijuana.

More than six months ago, Falmouth police officials, to their credit,
recommended the undercover operation to school officials because of
increased drug activity and violence at the school.

"A lot of the violence in town, like the recent home invasions, has
to do with drugs," said Falmouth Detective Kent Clarkson. "Eighty
percent of the violence in town goes back to drugs."

Few know this better than local defense attorney Drew Segadelli, who
said he's surprised there isn't more outrage about the methods used
to snag the students. Segadelli, who is not representing any of the
defendants, suggested that the students were entrapped. He told the
Times that it is easy to understand why adolescents would help a
pretty girl who wanted to buy drugs. "If a good-looking girl wants
something, I would jump off the Bourne Bridge to help her," he said.

As defense attorneys can do so well, Segadelli redefines criminal as
victim. He fails to see that the real victims here are those
law-abiding students who were threatened, on a daily basis, by the
spread of illegal drug activity and violence in their school.

Segadelli's twisted logic is nearly matched by Peter Manning, a
criminal justice professor at Northeastern University, who said the
undercover sting could actually backfire on the police department.

"It reduces the trustworthiness of police and creates divisions and
anger," he said. Aside form the fact that police departments are not
inherently designed to make everyone happy, the drug operation may
well restore some pride and trust in a department that has been
plagued in recent months by dissent and division.

Manning also said he doesn't like the tactics used by the Falmouth
police, including the practice of officers knocking on suspects'
doors in the early morning hours and alerting the media to the
arrests. He said there is no need to embarrass the families.

No? When police arrived at one house, the officers could smell
burning marijuana as a parent tried to block entry. Families like
this need to be embarrassed, and perhaps arrested as an accessory to
a crime or obstructing justice.