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  School Boards Debate Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs
Posted by FoM on July 11, 2001 at 14:06:21 PT
By Ashanti M. Alvarez, Staff Writer 
Source: Bergen Record 

justice A student at Bergenfield High School arrives late on a recent morning before school lets out for the summer. Administrators bark at her to get into the lunchroom.

At the same time, Rex, a German shepherd trained to sniff out even minute amounts of drugs, is scratching and banging at the vents of a locker, his tongue hanging out. Bergen County K-9 Officer Rich VanderClute tousles Rex's short mane and gives the dog a congratulatory slap on the torso.

"When the dog goes crazy, that's the sign of a hit," said Bergenfield police Lt. Jim Stoltenborg "It turned out there was nothing in there." But he noted there may have been drugs in the locker at one time or in an adjacent locker.

Yet another measure in the educational zero-tolerance philosophy, school districts across the region have employed drug-sniffing dogs to keep drugs off campus. Some of those districts are Passaic, Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley, Manchester Regional, Northern Highlands Regional, and Clifton.

But some administrators question the tactic, believing it treads on students' privacy rights.

In Paterson, some school trustees have balked at the idea and the images it conjures in a mostly minority city.

"The first thing that crops up is the Sixties," school board President Alonzo Moody said. "I used to watch TV and see dogs taking chunks out of humans, and people relishing it. Just viciousness. There was more compassion for animals than there was for a race of people."

"I would hope that students know enough about American history to realize that's a problem," said J. C. Salyer, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

The K-9 effort is usually a collaboration between school districts and their county sheriff's department, which provides the dogs and their trainers.

Administrators say the exercise deters students from bringing drugs to school. Some say they realize that there are students who use and sell drugs outside of school, but they are concerned about keeping the substances away from other students.

"I think it's my responsibility as superintendent to make sure our students go to a safe, clean environment," said Clifton Superintendent William Liess, noting that police officers have patrolled the high school for 30 years and the district is installing surveillance cameras there.

In most schools, the searches are random. Only the administration is notified. Teachers and students find out when they are ordered to close and lock classroom doors until notified -- a "lockdown" -- such as the one encountered by the Bergenfield High student who was late.

Technically, school districts are on safe legal ground in doing the searches. Lockers are school property, and students are supposed to be informed of that before they are issued a locker.

Some case law concerning schools across the country indicates that wide-ranging searches of backpacks, cars, and the body can't be made without reasonable suspicion.

In the 1980 case of New Jersey vs. T.L.O., a principal at Piscataway High School searched the pocketbook of a female student -- identified only by her initials -- looking for cigarettes. He found marijuana paraphernalia and turned her over to the police, who helped bring delinquency charges against the girl.

The state Supreme Court decided in 1985 that where police need probable cause to initiate a search, school officials only need a reasonable suspicion. If a principal suspects a student is carrying drugs or a weapon, he or she can search the student's backpack, car, and body.

Schoolwide locker searches are not based on reasonable suspicion. But since they are school property, the lockers can generally be searched at any time and for any reason, as long as it's in the interest of school rules and the student body.

"I'm not sure that's quite right," said Salyer of the ACLU. "Ownership has never been the defining factor over whether you have a privacy interest. . . . It's like telling everyone you're going to make them prove their innocence," Salyer said.

Two members of Paterson's school board are vocal about allowing the dogs to roam high school halls in that city. They say drug problems are pervasive, inside and outside school.

"A lot of kids welcome the dogs. I think the only ones who don't welcome it are the ones that are guilty," said board member Juan "Mitch" Santiago.

Santiago and fellow board member Dan Vergara Sr. raised the issue several months ago. But the idea fell on deaf ears. Moody, the board president, and several residents expressed concern over the connotations of German shepherds in a mostly black and Hispanic school.

Besides, Santiago's accounts of drugs in schools -- the board member claimed a search would uncover a lot of marijuana, and even heroin and crack -- are unfounded, Moody said.

"There's no indication to say that's going on," said the 55-year-old Moody, who is also director of the city's Youth Services Bureau.

Allowing the dogs to sniff at lockers opens some kids up to unwarranted suspicion, Moody argues.

Stoltenborg, of the Bergenfield police, said that the dogs' noses are so discriminating, they can smell drugs that are long gone.

"If I take this," he said, holding up a small bag of marijuana, "and stick it in between this book, put it in the locker for five minutes and take it out, that dog is going to catch it."

So the locker at Bergenfield High with no drugs inside -- despite Rex's fervent reaction -- may have contained drugs at one point. Maybe there were drugs in an adjacent locker, Stoltenborg said.

"It's going to make that kid think, 'That dog was on my locker for something,' " the police lieutenant said.

These fine points cause Paterson's Moody to hesitate.

"Say a drug dealer buys a drink. Pays for it at the store. You buy a drink. You get the change. You get the dollar bill . . . the residue is on there. The residue is on you," he points out. "When the dog stops you, how do you explain that?

"You're going to be questioned. There's a presumption that you're involved in something. I'm a little bit leery of going that way because you have to give up some of your time to satisfy an inquiry."

Stoltenborg and Bergenfield High Principal Michael Kuchar insist the procedure won't be onerous.

"If there are no drugs inside, that's fine. The student is free to go. This is just a preventive measure," Kuchar said.

If a dog makes a "hit," typically the locker is subject to a search by school officials. In the first run at Bergenfield, it stopped there. Subsequently, law enforcement would contact the student's parents and either make a consent search or obtain a warrant.

"It takes a lot of man-hours," Stoltenborg said. "We're not looking to catch a kid with a joint. You're not going to stop kids from doing drugs."

The ACLU's Salyer, however, questions the cooperative relationship between police and schools -- which officials from both areas typically say is a step in the right direction.

"If it's decided the law enforcement officers are going to get a warrant and search that bag, it's not to find the kids who have drug problems and give them some help," Salyer said. "It's sort of running roughshod over the students."

But for some, the threat of drugs outweighs the dogs' historical image or ambiguities surrounding the issue of privacy.

"Maybe they misused the dogs in the past, but I wasn't there. I didn't use the dogs," Santiago, the Paterson school trustee, said. "Not only am I a minority, that's just not my mentality. If every district is doing it, how come we can't?"

Source: Bergen Record (NJ)
Author: Ashanti M. Alvarez, Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, July 11, 2001
Copyright: 2001 Bergen Record Corp.
Website: http://www.bergen.com/
Contact: letterstotheeditor@northjersey.com

Related Articles & Web Site:

American Civil Liberties Union
http://www.aclu.org/

Parents Protest Use of Drug Dogs at School
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9057.shtml

Dope-Sensitive Dogs Sniff Out Problems in Schools
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7745.shtml


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Comment #18 posted by scrotz on July 21, 2001 at 08:10:20 PT
sniffing dogs are not accurate
they brought the dogs to my small illinois high school and the "hit" on approximately 30 cars. the administration searched them all. they finally found a couple of seeds in one car--desparate for a bust--they expelled the student for a semester to set an example.. over seeds!!! what about the 29 other innocent people whose vehicles were searched and nothing was found. it took over 3 hours to do all the searches. the cops claim the dogs are 100 percent accurate.. there are barely 100 cars in the parking lot to begin with. maybe it was that rainy, windy, cold breeze just dragging the scent away . who knows? who cares? i was out of class for 3 periods. talk about instructional time. i guess the threat of drugs is more important than my education............

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #17 posted by Twodogs on July 14, 2001 at 18:47:58 PT:

Raisin' Kids
I'm not sure what the parrallel is, here, between the American public's apathy towards the erosion of our Constitutional protections, and the total LACK of journalistic integrity on our "talk/News" shows, and chat rooms. I think maybe we bear some of the responsibility for it every time we allow the blurring of lines between truth and gossip. When we allow the raised eye-brow, or wink-and-nudge, cute one-liner, inuendo,or tongue in cheek "you know what I mean" to pass for a true statement, simply because we happen to agree, we allow the further erosion of our integrity. It didn't used to matter.--But, like a swear-word, if repeated loudly enough or often enough, it loses it's ability to shock. If you "know" Gary Condit "has something to do with it", or you "know" OJ did it, you are a little bit responsible for when it happens to you. This is not necessary. All it takes is a willingness to see what IS, rather than what you want to see. Otherwise, we will be doing the same as the "drug-Warriors" do.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #16 posted by CongressmanSuet on July 13, 2001 at 22:40:25 PT
Hey Old Man...

Im from Teaneck. Iwent to Catholic School in Ramsey, but I remember the few people that I knew from Bergenfield High said it was pretty cool. Maybe it was just because it was back in the seventies and anything would have been cooler than where I went to school.


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #15 posted by OldMan on July 13, 2001 at 10:10:30 PT
Not when I was
I went to Bergenfield High, years ago, and no one smoked
AT school. Just before, and after. Lunch was good too,
because you could leave school, I would go home and
spark up. I never knew anyone to keep anything of any
value in lockers, they were much to easy to break into.

Most Germans welcomed the Nazis. The only ones who did't
were the ones guilty of their crimes.




[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #14 posted by Doug on July 12, 2001 at 09:47:04 PT
Another Sign We Live in a Police State
I like that suggestion to spread bong water around. Anything you can do to screw up these fascists is worthwhile. Not only am I shocked (insert appropriate references to Casablanca here) that this goes on, but I am also upset that many people think this is not a big deal. We've always treated our children badly, while protesting that we need to "remember the children", but what is going on now seems to have hit a new low. We are teaching the children that the Constitution is only toilet paper, that they have no rights at all. We must really be afraid of young people. And most freightening, as was pointed out before, think of what kind of adults these are going to turn out to be.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #13 posted by The best idea on July 12, 2001 at 07:11:24 PT
I ever heard
Bong water is by far the best way of screwing with the dogs I have ever heard. If proved succesful, the dogs certainly will be going crazy following mazes of thc containmented water through the hallways of schools. If you want to take it further, fill a baloon with bong water, poke a little hole in the baloon so a there is a constant squirt, then proceed to walk in circles and funny patterns throughout your school. Put a lot out in front of the administration offices.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #12 posted by aocp on July 12, 2001 at 06:37:56 PT
re: meagian
...or a bunch of shake and an oregano shaker. Sprinkle
it liberally around campus and watch Rover take over!


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #11 posted by meagian on July 12, 2001 at 05:31:15 PT
So you want a drug war huh??
There is a very simple solution to this breach of our consitutional rights... its called a squirt gun and bong water squirt it everywhere !!!



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #10 posted by kaptinemo on July 12, 2001 at 05:24:39 PT:

Another instance where I hate being right
FF said:

"I just hate it when human beings use children as an excuse for any War. Once we do this, only outcome will be steely eyes of children with guns telling any human beings how to live a life

It's a lot worse than that. Because what children are being taught is that if their rights as citizens can be nullified by The State, then anyone's can.

And someday, those children who have been taught this lesson will teach those who taught them the same lesson.

Think about it: if children grow up in an environment where their rights are null-and-void, that child comes to expect that. Begins to accept it as a normal condition of citizenship in this country.

And is thus programmed to accept tyranny as a natural state of existence.

And what do you think will happen when that child grows up and someday may take a position of authority in society?. Do you think a child so treated will understand or care when the now-geriatric fool who taught him or her that lesson tremblingly protests that his 'rights' are being violated by the government? The privileges, to be dispensed on the whim of authorities.

To bring it into sharper focus: what if health care were rationed as a result of some universal healthcare scheme? Would you want an adult who was taught as a child to disregard the most basic aspects of individual rights - and thus, life itself - deciding whether you get the life-saving operation you need?

Have a care, America: the first generation of children that have been raised under just this kind of quasi-totalitarian enculturation have become the DrugWarriors of today. They have been taught no to revere rights, but how to disregard them whenever possible and to trick you out of yours. They have even killed children, and have not paid the price.

Imagine what the next generation of kids so trained could be like.

Hitler answered his critics early on when he said: "We don't need your support. We already have your children." The purpose of DARE is quite simple: to 'have' our children in exactly the same way as der Fuehrer mentioned. And these bowser-augmented searches go a long way towards that process.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #9 posted by jacksplace58 on July 12, 2001 at 05:21:40 PT
aocp
it's the old saying
"I may not always be right,..... but I'm never wrong."


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #8 posted by carpenedyahoo.com on July 12, 2001 at 04:34:59 PT
School Boards Debate Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs
>"I would hope that students know enough about American >history to realize that's a problem," said J. C. Salyer,
>an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of New >Jersey.

It is not history that attorney Salyer should worry about, it is the Constitution. I know that, at least in the high school I teach at, the students learn virtually nothing about the Constitution.

We are also plagued with security cameras, DARE, dogs, etc. in addition to a paranoid principal who longs to feel important. And we put up with this. Shame on us all.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #7 posted by Digit on July 11, 2001 at 22:37:31 PT:

drugs, dogs and dummies
Spot on Pontifex and acop. I think mayan put it best.

As pro Cannabis as I am, we don't really want kids using drugs ... even smoking cannabis may hamper their developement (although the contrary is also possable). But we arent really talking about little kids are we??? These are HighSchools!!! And of course we cannot deny just how much of an infingement of human rights, and privacy. Only in America could you have fascism hampering the education, freedom and development of its next generation and then have the ordacity to call it the land of the free.

Be Free, Be Happy, Be Stonned, Don't Worry.
Digit

p.s. BRING BACK CLINTON!!! BUSH WILL KILL US ALL!!!!!

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #6 posted by mayan on July 11, 2001 at 17:49:42 PT
Fascists
The kids are guilty until proven innocent. What a lesson for them to learn. They are being conditioned to have no expectation of privacy so that when they get older they'll be used to it. Fascism 101.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #5 posted by Pontifex on July 11, 2001 at 16:44:40 PT:

Only drug dealers could possibly object
Says Juan "Mitch" Santiago, who believed that an
extensive search would reveal mounds of marijuana as
well as heroin and crack:

"A lot of kids welcome the dogs. I think the only ones
who don't welcome it are the ones that are guilty."

"Hey little boy! Do you have a problem with these
dogs? Well, do you?!!! GOOD. Hey little girl, why are
you trying to hide from the dogs? Don't you know they're
here to help? Or do you have something to hide? DO
YOU?

Oh boy, let's have the government install cameras in
our showers. After all the only people who would object
are users of ILLEGAL HEMP HAIR PRODUCTS.


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by MikeEEEEE on July 11, 2001 at 16:38:39 PT
Signs of police state
Yet another measure in the educational zero-tolerance philosophy,


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on July 11, 2001 at 16:32:33 PT
I always remember what my Science teacher
have said to me..

"Gary, if the government gets involve with the schools, we shall know no freedom."

@ the time my teacher said that, I did not know what she had meant. Now, I do..

How can a student learn anything but fear when they run K-9 doggies around any campus in U.S?

I just hate it when human beings use children as an excuse for any War. Once we do this, only outcome will be steely eyes of children with guns telling any human beings how to live a life.

Do we need a child to tell us how to live a life?

Do we need a child to tell us to stop the drug war?

In name of Freedom
free the simple herb
ff


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by Pontifex on July 11, 2001 at 15:53:01 PT:

Discarding the fig leaf
Right on, aocp. It bears repeating:

"When the dog goes crazy, that's the sign of a hit,"
said Bergenfield police Lt. Jim Stoltenborg "It turned out
there was nothing in there." But he noted there may
have been drugs in the locker at one time or in an
adjacent locker.

Well hell! If the dog can open any locker he wants, why
not the officer? Why not give the dog a break? Why not
just open all the lockers whenever and go through
everyone's posessions? Not only would this turn up
drug caches, but also banned weapons such as
Tweety-Bird keychains, pencil sketches of guns, and
chicken fingers shaped like snub-nose revolvers.

But perhaps there's no need to stomp on the tattered
4th Amendment:

"It takes a lot of man-hours," Stoltenborg said.
"We're not looking to catch a kid with a joint. You're not
going to stop kids from doing drugs."

ROFL! So the police bring in snarling dogs, finger their
guns in front of the schoolkids, remind the children that
their privacy is void at the whim of a slobbering dog --
but it's all just for show. After all, we can't stop kids
from doing drugs, according to police lieutenant
Stoltenberg.

So what exactly is the point of all this? Kind of a
D.A.R.E. guerilla theatre?

Please explain, it's all so absurd!

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by aocp on July 11, 2001 at 14:39:47 PT
today's letter is 'd'!...
...for 'dumb' cops!

"When the dog goes crazy, that's the sign of a hit,"
said Bergenfield police Lt. Jim Stoltenborg "It turned out
there was nothing in there." But he noted there may
have been drugs in the locker at one time or in an
adjacent locker.

Now THAT'S a return on an investment, lemme
tell ya! First, the animal and its training buffoon are
dead-on and can't be wrong! Then, WHOA!
there's nothing to be found! Those administrators are
sure keepin' them drugz out of them schools!! Kudos to
the morons!! Keep on truckin'!!


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