COPS' OVERREACTION SENDS BAD MESSAGE

Watching the news over the weekend, I was ecstatic to see videos of our
special-ops men rounding up Saddam Hussein and the last of his hellhounds.
Finally.

There they were, lined up against the wall, handcuffed and staring into the
pitiless barrels of revolvers and the steely gazes of 14 of the United
States' toughest hombres.

No, wait. Oh, you mean those weren't Baghdad Baathists? And those weren't
our special-ops guys?

Indeed, the incredible film captured students on their way to class and
Goose Creek police officers, who, along with police dogs, conducted a "drug
sweep" at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, S.C., a suburb of Charleston.

Well at least, I permitted myself to assume, there's an armed and dangerous
heroin-tipped dart blower in the supine crowd. But no, police found
nothing. Not even a joint, though police reported that their dogs found 12
book bags worthy of sustained sniffing.

The man behind the curtain in this bad trip to the dark side of Oz was
Principal George McCrackin, who called police when he divined from watching
students via surveillance cameras that something might be "going down."

Police already had been reviewing surveillance tapes after a student tip
about drugs on campus and were confident of drug activity, according to Lt.
Dave Aarons of the Goose Creek Police Department. Students were "posing as
lookouts and concealing themselves from the cameras."

Perhaps, though I vaguely seem to recall in high school being the sort of
excellent student and model citizen who might have mocked a camera, had
there been one, in order to give 007 McCrackin something to sweat about.

Drugs and money indeed may have been exchanged on the school's campus,
which happens far too often for any parent's peace of mind, but kids have
been known to play "let's mess with the grown-ups."

Since the raid, McCrackin has been shown on national news reports seated at
a four-panel video screen in his office where he keeps an eye on his herd.
Apparently, he saw something that looked to him like a threat of a drug
transaction and placed a call to gulag headquarters. I mean the police.

Whereupon 14 officers responded with notable enthusiasm. They "assumed
strategic positions," and "did unholster in a down-ready position," Aarons
said.

Thankfully, no one was shot or hurt, but then neither were any drugs
confiscated. Instead, the entire exercise was a lesson in everything we
hope not to teach our children, that:

* School officials are not to be trusted;

* Police are not to be trusted;

* Grown-ups are dangerous and weird.

That's what I heard as I watched reruns with two college freshmen, and
that's what I would take away from the experience were I a Stratford student.

Disturbingly, some parents weren't especially upset, much less
appropriately outraged. Some who were interviewed said they trusted
officials to do what was necessary. An Internet survey by a San Antonio,
Texas, TV station found that 33 percent of those responding thought the
action was appropriate.

I don't mean to minimize the danger of drugs, and I don't blame school
officials for taking the problem seriously. McCrackin surely had a
legitimate duty to try to stop illicit commerce on his watch.

But scaring young people to death, pointing pistols in their faces,
handcuffing them for failing to respond quickly enough, defines the phrase
"over the top."

What happened at Stratford is inexcusable, unacceptable and un-American.

The American Civil Liberties Union has said the raid was illegal, and the
South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division is investigating. In the
meantime, McCrackin might consider taking some R&R, and the Goose Creek
Police Department might goose-step on over to Tikrit. I hear our
special-ops guys could use some backup.

Kathleen Parker is a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel.