POLICE SWEEP SCHOOL FOR DRUGS

Westerly Students' Lockers Searched

Westerly -- Police officers and 11 drug-sniffing dogs descended on Westerly
High School early Thursday morning to search for drugs in students'
lockers, in classrooms and offices, and in the cars of students and
teachers. School officials opened three lockers in which dogs detected a
suspicious scent and found drug residue in one. Police also found drug
paraphernalia in one student's car.

Several police departments in Rhode Island and Connecticut, including
Ledyard and Waterford, joined Westerly police in the drug sweep, which also
served as a training exercise for law-enforcement officials and their K-9
dog teams. Officers from the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, the U.S. Coast
Guard, the Rhode Island Department of Corrections and the Rhode Island
airport police also participated.

"Our purpose was to send a clear message that we want a safe and drug-free
school," Principal James Murano Jr. said. Some teachers and students raised
concerns about privacy issues, but most had no problems with the search, he
said.

Westerly Police Chief J. David Smith said he attended a faculty meeting in
the afternoon to discuss questions teachers had about the legality and
purpose of the search. Police discussed the same issues ahead of time with
the Rhode Island Attorney General's office. Westerly's school policies are
clear in allowing school officials to search lockers if they have a
reasonable suspicion that a student might have an illegal substance inside,
Smith said. Legal precedents also hold that students have a "diminished
expectation of privacy" on school grounds, he said.

School officials and police might conduct more searches in the future, he said.

"Our intelligence continues to indicate that there are a number of students
who do use drugs in Westerly and who use them on school grounds," Smith
said, "and we have made a number of arrests for marijuana on the school
campus. We want to send the message that we will do anything necessary to
discourage the sale or use of drugs at Westerly's schools."

Westerly police and school administrators have talked for years about
conducting such sweeps but had never planned one until Smith and
Superintendent Scott Kizner discussed the idea again weeks ago.

Police and school officials agreed that police would conduct criminal
investigations or make arrests only if they found significant amounts of
drugs or if they found weapons. "If we found something like a (marijuana)
roach, we would just turn it over to the school administrators to handle,"
Smith said.

Police started the sweep around 5:40 a.m. Teams of police and school
officials walked along rows of lockers in the hallways with the
drug-sniffing dogs. If a dog detected a drug scent at a locker, officers
put a sticker on the locker and moved on. If another dog detected a
suspicious scent at the same locker, school officials opened the locker and
searched it.

School officials opened only three lockers out of hundreds, Smith said.
They found a small container with drug residue inside one. School officials
spoke to the student and took no disciplinary action, according to Murano.

The search inside the school ended as the first students and teachers
arrived for the day. The police and dogs remained at the school in the
hopes of gaining the attention of students, Smith said. "They saw the
police presence, which was our desired effect and hopefully raised some
questions," Smith said.

Police then used the dogs to sniff cars, including teachers' and students',
in the parking lots. Police searched inside one car after a student, a
senior, urgently told school officials she needed to retrieve her inhaler
from it. Police found a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia
inside, Smith said. Murano said school and police officials are discussing
how to handle the case. The car was not parked on school property, he said.