DRUG BUSTS PLEASE SCHOOL OFFICIALS

CLARINGTON - A recent police project which resulted in 40 arrests in
and around Clarington high schools is welcome by school board
officials, but not necessarily symptomatic of a major problem, says a
superintendent with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board.

Between Oct. 1 and 12, officers from the Clarington Community Resource
Unit of Durham Regional Police took part in a plainclothes initiative
in and around all of Clarington's high schools, in response to some
complaints from the community. Project GROUND (Getting Rid of Unwanted
Neighbourhood Drugs) resulted in 40 arrests, with 15 of those people
eventually facing criminal charges. Eleven entered into "diversion
contracts" under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The majority of the charges were for possession of marijuana or
possession for the purpose of trafficking, said Const. Briese.

Under a diversion contract, youth found participating in illicit
activity "are put on certain conditions of behaviour that need to be
met and programs they may need to enter into," said Constable Heather
Briese, Clarington's high school liaison officer. The contract could
span up to six months.

As well, under the Safe Schools Act, any student caught in possession
of any illegal drug faces immediate suspension or expulsion. Those
have been carried out, say officials from both local boards.

Rusty Hick, superintendent with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District
School Board, said the most recent initiative is just one of many ways
school boards and police work together.

Both he and John Mackle, director of the local separate school board,
say they're pleased to have police presence in the schools.

But Mr. Hick said people shouldn't take from the results that there's
necessarily a huge drug problem in local schools. He said a total of
10 KPR students were suspended and charged out of about 3,800 total
public high school students in Clarington.

"Not to downplay it... but that's not a huge number," he said, noting
that amounts to "a quarter of one per cent of the student
population... we have safe schools and we work hard at it."

Police say they plan similar enforcement campaigns in the immediate
future.