SNOOPS TO TARGET DRUGS, NOT KIDS

Students who stash dope in their lockers and get busted by drug dogs
won't necessarily be hauled away in handcuffs, says the director of a
private investigations company that wants the Surrey school district's
business.

Margarett Donley, director of Black Tower Investigations, says her
company's goal is to rid schools of illegal drugs and and not to
punish teens caught with narcotics.

"Our job is not to put kids in jail, our job is to get drugs out of
school," said Donley.

Donley, who bought her first drug dog based on the expectation the
Surrey school district would approve a proposal to do random searches
of lockers, says her company's only role would be to identify the
presence of drugs.

As part of the service, Black Tower Investigations would supply two
dogs and handlers and a videographer.

The team would walk the halls while the kids are in class and if a dog
made a hit, he would indicate his discovery throughout a "passive
alert," meaning he would sit down in front of the offending locker.
Donley estimates it would take about an hour to search "an average
size Surrey school" at a cost of $275 an hour.

The dogs are trained to sniff out marijuana, crack, cocaine, heroin
methamphetamines and ecstasy, and can detect as little as a third of a
gram.

Depending on the school district's policy, the principal would likely
get stuck with the unpleasant task of dealing with the student caught
with drugs in his or her locker.

Donley says it would be up to the principal, based on the amount of
drugs found, to decide whether to call the police or parents.

Cathie Paton, a director of the B.C. Principals and Vice-Principals'
Association, says the issue of drug dogs hasn't been discussed by the
association.

Paton, principal of Creekside elementary school, says she suspects
principals would be assisted by a school liaison officer, a Surrey
RCMP member, in the event of any searches and advised by the officer
on how to deal with the student.

Paton says the current policy is to call liaison officers whenever an
issue may involve suspected criminal activity.

The proposal to have drug dogs search school lockers has been slammed
by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and others as an infringement
on privacy rights. And even trustees who support the concept admit the
issues surrounding Canadian constitutional rights are a legal tangle.

Donley acknowledges the criticism but maintains there are many
interpretations when it comes to the protection of rights.

"My child has just as much right to go to a drug-free school as the
next child who may want to take drugs into a school," Donley said,
adding that she would have no problem with drug dogs searching lockers
in her son's school.

Donley also believes that expectations of privacy regarding lockers,
which are school property, is limited.

"These lockers belong to the school not to you. You are using these
lockers and you don't have the right to put drugs into the school's
lockers," she said.

District staff has recently learned that the Surrey RCMP lacks the
resources to partner with the school district to conduct searches of
lockers. If trustees want to go ahead with the proposal, they would
have to hire a private company to provide the service and pay for it
out of the district's operating budget.

Despite her obvious opportunity to gain financially, Donley says drug
dogs are the right approach in helping rid schools of drugs.

"It's a business opportunity for me, I don't deny that at all, but
it's also a necessary service," she said.