Pubdate: Tue, 09 Sep 2003
Source: Canadian Champion, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2003 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing Ltd
Contact:  http://www.haltonsearch.com/hr/mcc/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1503
Author: Tim Whitnell

DOGS ONCE AGAIN SET TO SEARCH HIGH SCHOOLS FOR DRUGS, WEAPONS

Halton students considering bringing drugs, guns or explosives to high 
school may want to re-think their plans or risk facing the dog days of school.

The region's public and Catholic boards, in conjunction with Halton 
Regional Police, are reinstating a program to use trained detector dogs to 
search high schools for specific dangerous or illegal items.

The Safe School Canine Initiative, which began last week with the 2003-04 
school year, is a more comprehensive hybrid of the earlier Project Hall 
Walk. The latter program began in Halton in 1997 but was discontinued and 
put under review in 2000.

"The focus is still on detecting drugs but the difference here is locating 
guns and explosives, like a pellet gun or firecrackers," said Jacki Oxley, 
the Halton public board's school and community liaison officer.

Halton police drug and morality bureau officer, Const. Nishan Duraiappah, 
said the program can only work with the co-operation of the school boards.

"We have to depend on both school boards and the information they provide 
is (indicating) the dynamics of drug use (among teens) have changed."

"Back in the 1990s people thought there was a drug problem. The board is 
telling us (now) that nobody is hiding their heads in the sand anymore."

Const. Duraiappah said it will be interesting to see if the prevalence of 
what he termed "soft drugs," like marijuana and hashish, or harder drugs, 
such as ecstasy, are on the rise among youths.

He noted the laws are softening on marijuana use and possession but that 
school boards are remaining vigilant about the possible presence of drugs 
and weapons, hence the call to police for help.

Utilizing new provincial legislation in the Safe Schools Act, the Safe 
School Canine Initiative will "use a trained detector dog to search and 
indicate if there are drugs and/or weapons in the hallways or parking areas 
of a school," Ms Oxley said in a joint press release with the region's 
Catholic board and the police service.

"This proactive and preventive measure, which is intended to raise student 
awareness and hopefully change their behaviour, may be randomly implemented 
at any high school of the two Halton boards, including the continuing 
education services sites," she said.

Whereas Project Hall Walk provided a fair warning to parents, students and 
school administrators of an impending search, this time only the principal 
and vice-principal at a participating school will know about it ahead of time.

The plan is to use highly-trained sniffer dogs that work with the Canada 
Customs and Revenue Agency out of Pearson International Airport. They will 
walk the halls and parking lots of Halton's high schools with their police 
officer handler, as well as a Halton narcotics officer, the school liaison 
police officer and a school administrator.

If the dog detects what it thinks is the odour of drugs or residue from a 
firearm emanating from a locker, the principal will be asked to locate the 
student whose locker it is and ask him or her to open it.

If the student refuses, the school administrator can open the locker with 
police confiscating whatever illegal substances may be inside.

While a small number of drug seizures were made during the three-year 
Project Hall Walk program, there were no significant drug discoveries and 
no charges ever laid.

One particular sweep at four high schools around Halton in 1999 uncovered a 
trace amount of hashish on the floor in the girls' washroom at Aldershot 
High School in Burlington and a trace amount of marijuana under a 
common-area bench at E.C. Drury High School.

The Safe School Canine Initiative's new wrinkle of patrolling the parking 
lot around vehicles is a murkier area, legally speaking, when it comes to 
searches, said Const. Duraiappah.

If the car is unattended when a dog detects something, attempts will be 
made to locate the driver. If unsuccessful, police will likely wait for the 
driver to approach the vehicle and then ask him or her to give police access.

If the driver refuses, Const. Duraiappah said police may wait until the 
vehicle is being driven on a public roadway before stopping it in order to 
speak with its driver.

As far as the possible penalties to students should drugs or weapons be 
found, Ms Oxley said police and the school board have separate sets of 
criteria and responses.

She said, "If there are weapons or illegal drugs found in a particular 
locker, then the first thing that happens is the parents are contacted, the 
student is counselled, the administrator, depending on the circumstances, 
may issue a suspension. It would be a discretionary suspension under 
Section 307 of the Education Act."

Ms Oxley added that if there was a large amount of drugs or a specific type 
of illegal weapon, it could lead to a student's mandatory expulsion.

As far as police action, Const. Duraiappah said depending on the individual 
situation police may issue a warning letter or they may decide to lay a 
charge and put the young person on the court diversion program -- if it's 
the youth's first offence.

If it's a case of trafficking, meaning a large quantity of an illegal 
substance, Const. Duraiappah said police could lay a charge under the 
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act with the youth proceeding through the 
youth criminal justice system.
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