Pubdate: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 Source: State, The (SC) Copyright: 2003 The State Contact: http://www.thestate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/426 Author: Associated Press SCHOOL WON'T RELEASE ALL OF TAPE FROM RAID Additional footage shows officers pointing guns at students CHARLESTON - A prosecutor is questioning why school officials are refusing to publicly release additional surveillance camera recordings from a drug raid at Stratford High School where police drew their weapons and restrained students. Prosecutor Ralph Hoisington said the additional recordings show students handcuffed in a stairwell for no apparent reason, and at least two officers pointing their weapons directly at students. Goose Creek police have said in a report that "several officers unholstered their weapons and positioned them at the low ready position. "This was done as more of a defensive precaution ... primarily due to the unfortunate fact that drugs and money often mean that there is a real propensity for weapon involvement." But Hoisington said other tapes show the officers "pointing straight at students, sweeping the gun across them." Hoisington, who has seen the tapes that were provided to State Law Enforcement Division investigators, has refused to prosecute the case because of a conflict of interest. He has asked the state attorney general to investigate whether any state laws were broken when police swept through the school Nov. 5. No drugs were found and no arrests were made. Images obtained by WCSC-TV immediately after the raid were aired repeatedly on national television news programs. Berkeley County school officials allowed the station to record images from several of the roughly 70 cameras throughout the school. The district also allowed The (Charleston) Post and Courier to view some surveillance recordings. Now school officials are refusing to release images from certain cameras that were never shown to reporters but were provided to SLED. The Post and Courier has asked the Berkeley County School District for access to all footage delivered to SLED, including images from the camera aimed at a stairwell. Hoisington said that footage showed a group of students holding their hands behind their heads and lying on the ground. "They were being compliant," he said. The footage then shows an officer "picking up about six of them, strapping them and then putting them back down in the same position they were," Hoisington said. In a letter Friday to The Post and Courier, the district declined to release the materials, citing the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which generally prohibits the district from releasing personally identifiable information about students, and the state Freedom of Information Act. The district said the state's FOI law says certain information can be withheld if information is "of a personal nature" and that disclosure would "constitute unreasonable invasion of personal privacy." Hoisington questioned why district officials would withhold the additional footage. "It's already out there," he said of images of the search. Police and school officials decided to sweep through the school after seeing suspicious activity on the school's video cameras. More than 100 students were detained during the search. Using a drug-sniffing dog, officers and school officials searched students' belongings. A couple of weeks after the raid, a group of more than 100 teachers and students rallied outside Stratford High in support of principal George McCrackin. A group of students and parents, meanwhile, are suing school and district officials, saying their constitutional rights were violated. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh