Pubdate: Thu, 27 Sep 2007
Source: Herald Journal (IN)
Copyright: 2007 Herland Journal
Contact: http://www.thehj.com/Formlayout.asp?formcall=userform&form=3
Website: http://www.thehj.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4410
Author: Doug Howard

NO HITS, BUT DRUG USE STILL A CONCERN

A police search of the halls and parking lots at Twin  Lakes High
School turned up nothing Wednesday. And  that's a good thing say both
police and school  administrators of the random sweep for drugs.

"I look at it as a positive," said Monticello Police  Chief Jim
Reynolds, whose department partnered with law  enforcement agencies
from White, Carroll and Cass  counties to perform the searches. "At
least they're not  bringing it to school, as far as we can tell."

The entire process took about an hour, and although  searches
sometimes include nearby Roosevelt Middle  School, Wednesday's sweep
did not.

"We had seven or eight alerts," said Reynolds. "The  dog's 'hit' on
cars but we didn't find any physical  evidence to validate it."

A search inside the building turned out the same.

"We searched probably 10 lockers, with the same  results," said
Reynolds. "We found nothing."

For indoor searches the specially trained dogs are led  past each
locker and if an animal indicates on any one  of the doors, he said,
adjacent lockers are searched as  well.

"We'll go one or two lockers on either side of it, also  - just look
in them. (Scent) travels since there are  vent holes in the lockers.
So, the locker it hits on is  not necessarily the one that could have
had something  in there."

For the past several years, the Monticello Police  Department has
partnered with administrators at Twin  Lakes School Corporation to
keep the searches random.

"The reason I think it's successful is that each time  we do it there
are fewer hits on lockers and cars,"  said Reynolds. "That means if
they're doing it, at  least they're not bringing it to school."

Principal Keith Brakel said he's pleased with the  results of
Wednesday's search but said he's concerned  about the alerts
themselves, which could indicate some  students or their belongings
are in close enough  proximity to illicit drugs to alert the dogs.

"We're always pleased when we don't find anything,"  said Brakel. "But
we are concerned when the dogs do hit  because we're still getting too
many alerts in the  building. It's telling us that some students are
at  least around drugs."

Superintendent Dr. Tom Fletcher said he believes it's  important to
view the searches in context.

"It is just another tool that we're trying to use to  help kids stay
off of drugs. And hopefully, it's  working," he said. "At least the
message is clear that  we're not going to tolerate it in schools."
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MAP posted-by: Steve Heath