Pubdate: Wed, 15 Mar 2006
Source: Journal Gazette, The (IN)
Copyright: 2006 The Journal Gazette
Contact:  http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/908
Author: Sheena Dooley,  http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

SACS PROPOSAL WOULD PLACE POLICE DOG AT HOMESTEAD

Southwest Allen County Schools and the Allen County  Sheriff's 
Department want to put a full-time police dog  at Homestead High 
School to deter students from  bringing drugs and guns onto campus. 
The move would  make it the first school in Indiana to do so, officials  said.

Under a proposal presented to SACS board members  Tuesday night, the 
sheriff's department would train a  Labrador retriever to detect 
drugs and weapons, as well  as to track students if they disappear 
from school  during the day. That training would take place 
this  summer, with the dog being placed in the school  starting next 
fall, said the district's school resource  officer, A.J. Pape.

The dog also would go into SACS' two middle schools  occasionally and 
would be used for educational purposes  at the elementary level. Pape 
said it also could be  used to keep drugs and weapons out of sporting events.

"When the dogs are in the schools, the drugs and  weapons leave the 
schools," Pape said.

Homestead currently brings in dogs to search lockers  and the parking 
lot, but there is no constant presence,  and those searches only 
cover a small portion of the  school. School officials and Pape rely 
mostly on  students and parents to report drugs or weapons 
on  campus. Last year, SACS had 17 incidents in which  students were 
expelled for weapons, drugs or alcohol,  according to the Indiana 
Department of Education. Of  those, 16 involved Homestead students.

Anita Gross, SACS social worker, estimated the move  would cost the 
district an additional $700 a year and  would be used to increase 
Pape's salary because of the  additional responsibilities he would 
take on with the  dog. Pape said he would have to go through a 
12-week training course this summer and then would take care of  the 
dog full time after that. SACS plans to do  fundraising and seek out 
volunteer services to cover  vet, food and grooming expenses.

Pape, members of the sheriff's department and district  officials 
have been working on the proposal for about  six months, after Pape 
heard of the idea at a National  School Safety conference. Few 
schools have dogs, but  those with them have seen significant drops 
in drug-  and weapon-related incidents, Pape said.

"Southwest Allen is a leader in school safety," Pape  said. "It fit 
in with being a forerunner. Anytime you  are proposing something that 
takes drugs and weapons  out of schools, it's hard to take a negative stance."

Gross said she plans to bring the proposal back for the  board to 
vote on at its next meeting on March 28.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman