APOLOGIES ARE IN ORDER FOR DRUG RAID

An apology would have been a good place to start. An apology from the
principal of Stratford High School in Goose Creek, whose school is now
at the center of a national controversy because of an aggressive
police drug raid.

An apology from the cops would have been nice, as well. Simply saying
they had to be extremely cautious in an area where they suspected
drugs and had to draw guns on about a hundred students - while
restraining more than a dozen with plastic handcuffs - on an early
school morning doesn't cut it.

Instead, they defended themselves, said drugs were a problem, that
they had to make a statement.

And because they found no drugs and made no arrests - even after
having four days of surveillance showing "suspicious" activity before
the raid - such an explanation seems even more hollow.

Leadership demands an occasional show of strength, but humility is
often more effective.

There's no excuse for treating students like criminals in the confines
of their own school to solve a suspected drug problem. None.

An acknowledgement of that fact would be a great place to start, and
is vital to assure the more important issues aren't lost in the
backwash of anger, warranted and unwarranted.

Community members and leaders in Goose Creek living through this
controversy, and others elsewhere monitoring it to comb for lessons,
should keep a few things in mind:

Stratford High might be one of the best schools in South Carolina, but
that doesn't make it immune to the same social problems most other
schools face. Which means having an aggressive, straightforward
anti-drug policy is a necessity.

Monique Gonzalez, a senior at the school, told an Associated Press
reporter she saw students during the raid running from campus, dumping
drugs along the way.

"There were kids throwing pills and things in the bushes. People were
taking bags out and throwing them on the ground," she said.

Don't pretend all students are innocent, even when you are rightfully
taken aback by the actions of the police officers and the principal.

When your school is overwhelmingly white and most of the students
targeted in your raid are black, that quite naturally becomes a
problem of race.

Call it the burden of history, call it what you like, but don't
pretend race isn't one of the issues at play.

Explain yourself. Provide the tapes that show the targeted, suspected
drug dealers and users happened to be black, not that you suspected
them because of their skin color.

Show that you take the drug risk seriously and surveyed the entire
school, and that due diligence led to that particular hall with those
particular students.

Reasonable people pay attention when you provide reasonable
explanations.

They don't want drug dealers in their schools, either.

Don't allow students to begin ignoring authority out of anger.

Tell them, when a police officer gives a command, you comply. No
questions asked - until the raid is complete and complaints can be
processed through proper channels.

Undermining authorities - the principal, teachers and law enforcement
officials - only makes it easier for criminals to thrive.

Stratford and other schools should be doubly careful to make sure drug
dealers aren't emboldened to increase their presence during such
controversies.

It's happened too many times before. Police officers make a mistake.
Community members become outraged. Criminals have a field day as
officials second guess how they should try to create a safer
environment.

But the most important messages are these, for those in support of and
those angered by such raids:

Being blind to history won't make the issue of race go away.

And being a slave to history won't solve our drug problems.