FIGHTING CRIME AT SCHOOL

Peoria Mayor Joins Sheriff In Teaching Educators About Safety And Drugs

PEORIA - As a German shepherd bounded toward a row of lockers Thursday, men
and women sitting just feet away tensed.

The dog sniffed his way down the row and then stopped. He scratched at a
locker door, the tell-tale sign that drugs were lurking inside.

"He doesn't care about the dope. He just wants to play," Peoria County
Sheriff's Deputy Todd Foster, the K-9 officer, joked to an audience of
school officials.

This demonstration was part of a two-hour session Thursday night about
school law enforcement and safety. About 50 school officials from around
Peoria County packed the Sheriff's Department to glean information for the
start of the school year.

"The opportunity for law enforcement agencies to collaborate with educators
is very important to us. We're not experts in the areas they are," Dunlap
Superintendent Jeanne Williamson said after the meeting.

The event was hosted by Mayor Jim Ardis and city and county law
enforcement. Ardis plans to have a number of such meetings on various
topics to strengthen cooperation between districts. His focus, however, is
on districts and schools with territory in the city of Peoria.

Sheriff Mike McCoy cautioned school officials about how drug searches can
have unexpected outcomes. Officers have even found drugs in teachers' desks.

"I see a lot of smiles. Guess what? It's happening," he said.

Plenty of drugs were on hand for school officials to study. Multi-County
Narcotics Enforcement Group Director Larry Hawkins brought a suitcase full
of narcotics.

"He has some stuff to pass out. It's evidence. Please give it back to us,"
McCoy joked.

Crack cocaine is the most prevalent in Peoria. Methamphetamine is fairly
common but waning. Ecstasy is the next big thing, especially for youth,
Hawkins said.

"I suspect you are going to start seeing Ecstasy in some of your schools,"
Hawkins said.

Hawkins explained how gangs control the drug trade, getting their loot from
Chicago.

A huge profit stands to be made by buying drugs in bulk there and then
selling them by the gram here. A kilo of cocaine bought in Chicago can
easily mean $7,000 in profit here.

"This is big-time, serious stuff. The profits to be made from drugs are
astronomical," McCoy said.

District 150 Superintendent Ken Hinton peered into a tube containing a
yellow, rock-shaped substance. It was crack cocaine, but he didn't know it.

"What is this?" he asked the person sitting next to him. "I've never seen
this before."

Hinton said holding drugs in his hands was a sobering experience.

"It makes real what is happening in our society and what our children are
exposed to," he said.

Another subject of much discussion was responding to crisis, whether it be
a shooting, tornado or terrorist attack. Peoria police Capt. Ron Shipp
recommended that districts implement an "incident action plan" that
compliments emergency plans.

It allows for clear management of an emergency through the use of a
decision-making team and various staging areas for emergency personnel.

"The best thing to do is to create a situation that will allow everybody to
work together," he said.