A SNIFF FOR SAFE SCHOOLS

Random Checks Using Dog Aims To Keep Drugs, Guns Off Campuses In Fort Mill

Tosca, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, trots around cars parked in the
Fort Mill High School student lot, her nose pushed against the sides
of the vehicles.

She holds back at one sedan, circling by the door. Then, after a few
more good sniffs, she looks up at her handler and sits down.

That's her alert signal. Tosca has been trained to recognize the
scents of gunpowder and all sorts of drugs -- and she smelled
something suspicious here.

Forty-one school districts across the Carolinas and other states pay
R.A.I.D Corps Inc., a Spartanburg-based private drug inspection
company that owns Tosca, to check their buildings. Fort Mill started
using R.A.I.D. in the 2004-05 school year, paying about $400 per
school per search -- a total of $11,500 over the school year -- to
randomly check for illegal substances in the high school and both
middle schools. York principals will consider adding the service at a
meeting in February, new Superintendent Russell Booker said.

"Having that added piece of security is well worth the money that
you're spending," said Booker, who saw the company in action when he
was a principal in a Spartanburg district. "It's another preventative
measure to try to keep those things out of your school that don't
need to be there."

Last Friday, Fort Mill High administrators asked R.A.I.D. inspector
Joel Raines to go through a random row of the parking lot since he'd
gone through classrooms last time.

"We try not to have a pattern, because the more patterns we have, the
easier it is to avoid it," Raines explained. The company doesn't even
tell administrators what day they're coming. (Raines coordinated with
the Observer ahead of time so a reporter and photographer could be there.)

Tosca zoomed through the row of 41 cars in 15 minutes, alerting four times.

Raines waited as the assistant principals tracked down the owners of
the cars, explained what happened and escorted them outside -- one by
one to protect confidentiality -- to open the car. The students can
request to have their parents there, but they can't refuse to let
Raines search it. Under school policy, once a car is on school
property, it's subject to search. The same goes for lockers and book
bags. (On Friday, before coming to the high school, Tosca alerted on
one book bag in a classroom at Fort Mill Middle, but Raines didn't
find anything.)

Car No. 1: Maybe some burns from marijuana smoked in the car at some
time, but no drugs. Car No. 2: No drugs found, but there could've
been something in the dried-up leaf bits on the carpet floor. Car No.
3: No drugs found. Car No. 4: No drugs, but another serious offense
- -- a bottle of gin.

Tosca doesn't alert on alcohol, but that doesn't mean she was wrong
about drugs in any of those cars, Raines said. She may have picked up
on marijuana seeds that burned into upholstery, or a lingering scent
from a drug user who rode in the car, he said.

R.A.I.D. dogs commonly find fireworks, weapons and drugs, Raines
said. They've also found a miniature bomb made from a plastic pipe,
he said, and a half-ounce of marijuana in a teacher's car -- neither
in Fort Mill.

Even if nothing illicit is found, Fort Mill principals still call
home to tell parents about the alert. If they do find drugs or
alcohol, the student is expelled unless administrators grant a
waiver. Students who receive waivers still have to serve 10 days of
suspension. They also have to pay to go through a substance-abuse
evaluation and whatever program the evaluators recommend.

The alcohol hit Friday was the first at Fort Mill High this academic
year. Last year, the program uncovered seven cases of illegal
substances at the high school, which Raines said was typical compared
to other districts.

Fort Mill Principal David Damm said the deterrent effect is worth the
cost of the program.

"Drugs and alcohol are a problem in society," he said, "so they're
going to be an issue at the school."