Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jul 2006 Source: State, The (SC) Copyright: 2006 The State Contact: http://www.thestate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/426 Author: Toya Graham Note: Graham is a reporter for The (Rock Hill) Herald, a McClatchy newspaper. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?237 (Drug Dogs) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) DOGS SNIFF FOR DRUGS, GUNS AT SCHOOLS YORK -- Tosca, a nearly 70-pound Belgian Malinois canine, leaped up on her hind legs and parked her paws on a library bookshelf. Then she forced her black nose between two book spines. One book tumbled to the floor. Two more met the same fate. Then she found it -- a small black case filled with cotton balls that had been exposed to marijuana odor -- hidden behind the books. "She will alert on the faintest of odor," trainer Joel Raines said as Tosca sat and wagged her tail. About a dozen York school principals and assistant principals watched Tosca during a recent staged RAID (Resistance Against Illegal Drugs) inspection at York Comprehensive High School. Tosca, a 5-year-old drug and gunpowder sniffing dog, is a new weapon school leaders will use to combat drugs and weapons in York schools. "We're going to run into things you've probably never seen before," Raines told school leaders. Tosca, one of 10 dogs used with RAID, is trained to recognize several drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Raines, Tosca's handler and a former Rock Hill police officer, said the effort is a proactive, hands-on approach to curbing drugs and weapons in schools. "We're not here to catch people," said Raines, RAID chief operation officer. "We're here to deter." RAID, a Spartanburg-based company, uses teams of dogs and former law enforcement officers to find drugs at schools across the Carolinas, Georgia and Texas. The private company, which has worked with the State Law Enforcement Division and other law enforcement agencies, provides services for Union County schools. It also serves Fort Mill and Chester school districts. The inspections in York will cost $500 a month; the school board budgeted $6,075 for the upcoming school year. Random inspections of classrooms, lockers and cars will be performed several times a year at York Comprehensive High School, York Junior High School and York One Academy. While elementary schools are not scheduled to be inspected, Raines will do pop-up inspections with Tosca at the district's middle school. "The teachers will lock the doors," Raines said about a typical one-hour school inspection. "Students can't move around. If they can't move around, they can't get rid of what they got." Keith McSwain, principal at Harold C. Johnson Middle School, favors the school board's decision to hire RAID. "It will prevent the possibility of students having illegal substances at school," McSwain said. "That's a good thing." Ethel Ingrum, principal at York One Academy, added, "This is just another tool that we can use to ensure that our students have a safe learning environment." Drugs are only half of the issue. In 2005, a 12-year-old Harold C. Johnson Middle School student brought two unloaded guns to school. School officials discovered a black semiautomatic .25-caliber gun. Another black .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol was found in the student's coat pocket. He had planned to sell his grandfather's weapons to another student, who was absent from school that day, according to reports from the York Police Department. In 2004, four weapons were found on York school grounds, resulting in the arrest of a 17-year-old, according to police. Despite the weapon discoveries, superintendent Russell Booker said York schools are safe. No guns were discovered during the 2005-06 school year, Booker said. He wants to continue the trend and issued a warning: "The kids need to know that at any point in time there could be an inspection," Booker said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake