Pubdate: Mon, 31 Jul 2006
Source: Times, The (Gainesville, GA)
Copyright: 2006 Gainesville Times
Contact:  http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2701
Author: Nikki Young, The Times
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

POLICE BEEF UP PRESENCE AT SCHOOLS

Resource Officers, Drug Dogs Work To Keep Students Safe

Local law enforcement is focused on keeping Gainesville  and Hall
County schools safe so students can  concentrate on their studies.

Traditionally, school resource officers are present  only in middle
and high schools. But for the past two  years, Gainesville City
Schools also has had an officer  floating between its five elementary
schools.

"Not too many have taken it down to the elementary  school level,"
said Gainesville Police Chief Frank  Hooper.

The officers at all schools are good role models for  children, Hooper
said. Though their purpose is  protection and crime prevention, the
officers are a  friendly face children and teens can trust.

"We want them to be involved with the kids and the  administration,"
Hooper said.

Hall County students are being asked to trust officers  by turning in
peers who are doing drugs in school.

Posters this year will advertise a reward for  information leading to
a conviction. The reward is $100  from the sheriff and $100 from the
school board.

Judge Cliff Jolliff, who oversees Juvenile Court for  the Northeastern
Judicial Circuit that includes Dawson  and Hall counties, compiled
statistics for crimes in  schools from Aug. 1, 2005, to May 31, 2006.

He listed for schools in Hall County one charge of  battery on a
teacher, one for distributing controlled  substances on school
property and four for possession  of a controlled substance on school
property

He also listed 29 charges for possession of weapon on  school property
and 37 juvenile marijuana possession  cases, some of which may have
occurred at school.

"It's not a huge amount of drug cases that come to  court," Jolliff
said.

"That doesn't mean that the school isn't detecting  drugs at school,"
he said. "They don't always file the  charges, or at least that is our
perception with that  few cases filed in the last school year."

This school year, students will have their own pair of  "canine
officers" watching over them. The dogs are  trained to sniff out drugs
in pockets, lockers and  cars.

Hall County Sheriff's Office dogs have searched schools  for drugs in
the past, but these canines are on call  just for students in Hall
County and Gainesville  schools.

"The dogs will be available in a moment's notice to do  a search in
the schools they're housed at, or travel to  any Gainesville school if
the school resource officer  requests them," Strickland said.

Two of Hall's 13 school resource officers are trained  to handle the
dogs, which were paid for through a  donation from Turbo Logistics.
The dogs are stationed  at East Hall and North Hall high schools.

"The locations of the drug dogs were not decided upon  because of
problems," Strickland said.

He said officers at those schools happened to volunteer  for the
extensive training.
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