Pubdate: Wed, 12 Mar 2008
Source: Times Leader, The (KY)
Copyright: 2008 The Times Leader, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.timesleader.net
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4319
Author: Jared Nelson

DRUG DOGS SWEEP COUNTY SCHOOLS

Drug dogs patrolled the halls of three county school  buildings Monday
morning.

The county high school, middle school and the Butler  Area Youth
Development Center were canvassed by K-9  teams from the Owensboro
Police Department, the Daviess  County Sheriff's Department and the
McLean County  Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Stan Hudson said charges had been brought  against one high
school student as a result. The  juvenile was charged with marijuana
possession.

Another student may face a charge of possession of a  controlled
substance as a result of a separate  investigation.

A small amount of marijuana and some pills were  confiscated at the
school, the sheriff said; School  Superintendent Carrell Boyd noted
that the pills'  discovery was not directly related to the dogs' search.

The school district had requested the dogs be brought  in some time
ago, as a proactive measure, said CCHS  Principal Glen Ringstaff.

"This is what we hope will become an annual or  semi-annual event," he
said. "It's basically a  preventive measure, part of our ongoing
effort to  dissuade the movement of drugs in the schools."

The K-9 units, accompanied by the sheriff and Deputy  Brock Thomas,
the county's school resource officer,  arrived at the high school at
about 8 a.m. Monday.

The building was placed on lockdown while the teams  conducted their
sweep.

Lockers, restrooms, some classrooms and student  vehicles were
checked. If a K-9 unit alerted on a  location, school officials
accompanying each team were  notified.

School officials would then search the indicated area.  Local
sheriff's units took over when contraband was  discovered.

Hudson said he preferred to bring in outside agencies  with K-9
capabilities to do the drug sweep, and said he  knew the Owensboro,
Daviess and McLean County units  from some training he had attended in
that area.

"They've got several years of experience, too," he
said.

Hudson said the school district always gave law  enforcement a green
light to bring in the drug dogs.

"We expect to do it more often than we have been in the  past, and we
appreciate the school's cooperation," he  said.

"I believe we caught the students by surprise, which is  always a
plus," he said. "There will be more surprise  visits in the future."

With only two individuals facing charges in connection  with the
morning's events, Boyd said some would make  the easy assessment that
there were few drugs in the  schools, or in the community.

"I think most of us would agree that's probably not  accurate," he
said.

While the drug problem exists, the random sweeps would  help "to deter
any of our students thinking that the  school is a place where any
type of drug activity can  take place," he said.

The drug sweeps are nothing new, he noted: the school  district had
previously utilized the Princeton Police  Department to use their own
K-9 teams in the schools.  The police department no longer has a K-9
unit.

By facilitating K-9 activity through the sheriff's  department, Boyd
said, the school district hopes to  schedule such sweeps more frequently.

"We would prefer not to interrupt the educational  activities, but
we're serious about keeping drugs out  of our schools," he said.

Illegal possession of prescription medication is  becoming one of the
school district's larger issues, he  noted, and encouraged parents and
guardians to keep  their medications under lock and key.
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MAP posted-by: Derek