DECISION ON DRUG RAID CHARGES DUE TODAY

CHARLESTON - Prosecutor Ralph Hoisington plans to announce today whether
charges will be filed against police in a high school drug search where
officers drew guns as students were ordered to sit in the hallway.

The Nov. 5 search at Stratford High School in Goose Creek attracted
national media attention and is the subject of a 200-page report by the
State Law Enforcement Division.

Hoisington, the prosecutor for Charleston and Berkeley counties, received
that report last week and has scheduled a news conference today at Goose
Creek City Hall to announce his findings.

Hoisington has said if the police actions were not justified, what officers
did could be considered assault and battery. He said there is a fine line
between what is justified and what might be considered too much force.

Videotape from surveillance cameras showed students sitting on the floor
while officers with guns drawn looked for drugs. Police checked 107
students and briefly restrained about a dozen.

Fourteen officers and a drug dog took part in the sweep, which has left the
bedroom community of 29,000 residents 20 miles northwest of Charleston
divided over the police action.

Some students and parents praised school officials for taking a tough stand
on drugs. Others are angry about the force police used.

Hoisington later asked SLED to investigate possible police misconduct in
the sweep during which some students were handcuffed.

School officials asked police in after receiving reports of marijuana sales
on the campus. Police said the dog sniffed drug residue on 12 book bags but
found no illegal narcotics. No one was arrested.

The prosecutor announces his decision the same day the Rev. Jesse Jackson
plans to visit neighboring North Charleston for what he said is a rally
against police violence.

The rally is in response to the drug sweep as well as last month's fatal
shooting in North Charleston of a mentally ill man. Police said they had to
fire to subdue the man, who stabbed an officer with a knife. The officer
was wearing a protective vest and was not injured.

SLED is investigating the incident and North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey
asked the U.S. Justice Department for a separate investigation.