Pubdate: Thu, 13 Apr 2006
Source: Park Ridge Herald-Advocate (IL)
Copyright: 2006 Park Ridge Herald-Advocate
Contact:  http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-newsstand?paper2=pr
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4134
Author: Jennifer Johnson, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

SHERIFF'S POLICE SUPPORT USING DOG DRUG PATROLS

Officers with the Cook County Sheriff's Department expressed support last 
week for bringing drug-sniffing dogs into area schools, while Maine 
Township High School District 207 continues to explore the concept.

Sgt. Robert Sapp and Lt. George Brown told residents attending a meeting of 
the Maine Township Neighborhood Watch on April 5 that just knowing their 
school has access to drug sniffing dogs is enough to keep students from 
bringing drugs to school. Both officers said drug-sniffing dog programs 
have worked well at schools in other areas of the county.

"The kids see these [dogs] and they get scared," Sapp said. "They've seen 
enough [TV] shows to know that these dogs - if there's dope there - will 
find it. It's a huge deterrence against kids bringing dope and leaving it 
in school."

"It's one more tool in the tool bag of the good guys versus the bad guys," 
added Maine Township Trustee Peter Ryan.

"The buzz [at Maine South] is that things have cleaned up immensely" since 
students heard drug-sniffing dogs were being discussed by the school 
board," Ryan said.

The District 207 Board of Education has been debating whether to allow 
canine teams - from police departments or private companies - to search 
each of the district's three school buildings and lockers for drugs and 
alcohol. Discussion was expected to continue at Monday night's school board 
meeting, but has been postponed until the board's May 1 meeting.

Sapp believes drug dogs should be used in elementary schools as well as 
high schools. He spoke of a search the Sheriff's Department conducted at 
Mannheim Middle School in Melrose Park, where dogs were brought into the 
building after school hours. The students saw the seven police squad cars 
and the dogs waiting outside as they left for the day, and this left an 
imprint in the students' minds, he said.

"In our schools today, children, juveniles 8 years old and above, are 
selling drugs," Brown added.

"If it means bringing a dog [into schools] to help a child correct his 
wrongful ways, then we should be doing those things," he said.
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