DRUG-DOG PROGRAM COULD START NEXT YEAR

Officials Are Unsure If The Searches Are Legal, But Plan To Use Them
Statewide If They Are

By Alexandre Da Silva Education officials want $300,000 from the
Legislature to launch a statewide drug-sniffing dog program as early
as next year in case they win public support for the initiative.

The state Board of Education approved the money last week to roll out
a drug-dog program listed in the Education Department's $48 million
supplemental budget request for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Board members passed the funding request during a meeting late
Thursday night after discussing for three hours whether to expand a
pilot program in which a dog found traces of marijuana at all three
Maui public schools it visited this spring.

They postponed a vote out of concern the program could violate
students' privacy, but still chose to ask lawmakers for the money
while they weigh its possible legal implications.

"If by any chance this wouldn't materialize, then later on in the
budget process, it would be dropped," said Education Department
spokesman Greg Knudsen. Or, he said, lawmakers "might agree to shift
it to some other kind of drug education program."

"But if it is approved, then we would need some money to implement
it," Knudsen added.

The budget received unanimous support from the 13-member school
board. Before being sent to the Legislature, it needs to be reviewed
by Gov. Linda Lingle, who is waiting for the school board to agree on
a final language for the drug-dog program before deciding.

"Overall, she supports the effort to ensure our schools remain
drug-free," said her spokesman, Russell Pang.

Plans to have drug-sniffing dogs statewide gained momentum earlier
this year when a golden retriever sniffed small plastic bags with
marijuana residue or empty cans and bottles of beer or whiskey in
public areas at Kalama Intermediate, Lahaina Intermediate and
Lahainaluna High. Principals from those schools "were pleased" with
the project, which was paid for by donations, said school board
member Mary Cochran.

"It's just a strategy, just a deterrent," she said.

But civil-rights advocates say the department's push to broaden the
program by allowing dogs to sniff students' lockers without reason or
cause could lead to lawsuits. The state attorney general's office is
reviewing the plan, which is tentatively scheduled to be considered
at a school board meeting Oct. 18.

According to a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, public school students
have "legitimate expectations of privacy," and officials need to
establish "reasonable suspicion" before searching them, University of
Hawaii law professor Jon Van Dyke said Thursday when testifying
against the board's proposals.

Even then, dog sniffs would only be OK if schools can prove that "no
other less intrusive alternative was available," wrote Van Dyke,
quoting a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which
has jurisdiction over Hawaii.

"The Hawaii courts, especially in the decisions that have come down
in the last couple of years, in each case have assumed that the dog
sniff or the dog screening is a search," he said Friday in an interview.

He said the Maui program was valid because the dog only went to common areas.

"Anybody can walk around the bushes and the bathrooms and look for
things. There's no expectation of privacy in that context," he said.

Whitney White, owner of Interquest Detection Canines of Hawaii, which
ran the Maui program, agreed that the debate over the legality of dog
searches falls into "a gray area" that is open to different interpretations.

However, she said dog sniffs are not a search, but more like an alert
that provides suspicion for an inspection.

White said she would be able to bring enough dogs from the company's
corporate office in Texas to provide coverage at all Hawaii schools.
The cost of the program would vary greatly depending on how regularly
dogs visit campuses, she said.