DETERRING DRUG SALES

At first look, it doesn't look like an impressive payoff for six
months of work by five police officers. They netted just 21 people on
a total of 33 felony counts.

But as with all police work, the benefit must be gauged by the amount
of crime prevented rather than the number of suspects charged.
Admittedly, crime that doesn't happen is hard to measure. Still, the
hope is that sales of illegal narcotics will drop not just at the five
Palm Beach County high schools targeted in "Operation Old Schoolhouse"
but throughout the district. School Police Chief Jim Kelly went out of
his way last week to leave the impression that similar undercover work
could be continuing at the targeted schools and might be ongoing at
others. "This is a warning to all students that they should be looking
over their shoulders," he said. "We're not done yet."

Four deputies from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and an
officer from the Delray Beach Police Department enrolled in August at
the five high schools and pretended to be students. Most of the drug-
dealing involved marijuana, but some students sold cocaine, Ecstacy
and prescription tranquilizers. The schools were: Forest Hill,
Wellington, William T. Dwyer, Jupiter and John I. Leonard.

Superintendent Art Johnson said the district did not pick on certain
schools or give other schools a pass. Three of the five schools --
Jupiter, Wellington and Dwyer -- have considerably fewer minority
students than the district average. When asked in an interview this
week, "Why not Dreyfoos School of the Arts?" Dr. Johnson replied: "Why
not Dreyfoos?" As did Chief Kelly, he said undercover drug operations
would continue.

Students at the targeted schools had mixed reactions, with some
predicting that the arrests would have a lingering effect and others
scoffing that students would forget about it in a couple of days.
There's also the likelihood that drug transactions simply will move
off campus to street corners.

Drug sales on street corners near schools also should be targeted, but
the public has an even greater interest in preventing drug sales on
public school campuses. Most likely, the impact of Operation Old
Schoolhouse will not be as permanent as police, principals and parents
would like nor as temporary as some students suggest. Though
undercover stings and arrests make a bigger splash, parental
involvement and education in early grades remain the best strategy for
drug prevention.