DRUG SWEEP OF SCHOOL NETS 2 CITATIONS

Germantown Police Call In 12 Officers, 8 Dogs; Marijuana Found In Cars

Germantown - A police drug sweep Wednesday at Germantown High School
involving a dozen officers and eight trained dogs led to just two citations
for marijuana possession, police said.

"We wait for the school to approach us because they have a better
understanding of what is going on in their atmosphere," Police Chief Ray
Van Male said. "Traditionally, we have not found a lot. We didn't locate
any drugs in the lockers, which is good news."

Law enforcement officers from seven other agencies joined Germantown
officers for 45-minute search, Van Male said.

"We were in and out," he said. "The school was locked down for the homeroom
period while we were conducting the sweep."

Assisting were personnel and dogs from the West Bend, Glendale, Oak Creek
and Franklin police departments as well as deputies from the Milwaukee,
Waukesha and Washington county sheriff departments.

Van Male said these sweeps are done periodically.

Van Male said two citations had been issued for possession of marijuana.
The drugs were found in cars at the school. He said more citations might
still be issued.

"It was personal use amounts, nothing large enough to indicate sales were
happening," he said.

The amount of help his department received from other agencies was
tremendous, he said.

"We could not exist without each other," he said of the inter-agency
cooperation. "We exchange expertise and we have to depend on other
departments for resources they have that we don't possess."

Van Male said that in the current budget crunch brought on by a possible
reduction in state shared revenue, departments are looking to cut costs.
Some of the departments on hand today will soon retire canine units.

And that could make it tougher for sweeps like this in the future.

"Programs that have taken years to build up could easily go by the
wayside," he said. "Without people realizing what good comes from those
programs being in place."