Drug dogs will prowl Osseo school parking lots

The district says the searches at its four high schools are meant to be a deterrent to students using drugs.

By NORMAN DRAPER, Star Tribune

Last update: July 15, 2008 - 7:19 PM

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Drug-sniffing dogs will be unleashed in Osseo schools' parking lots this fall.

Initially, the dogs and their police handlers will do random searches at the district's four high schools. Depending on the results, the searches could expand to include high school and junior high school buildings, said assistant superintendent Kate Maguire.

The searches are part of the district's plan to make schools safer, and not in response to any particular incidents, Magurie said. The school district is coordinating the searches with police departments in Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center and Maple Grove.

"It's just one of many tools we use to enhance school safety and security," Maguire said. "Our goal is that kids will know that we're going to periodically sweep the parking lot. It will be a deterrent. ... Our goal is not to catch and trap people; it's to keep drugs out of the schools."

Dogs have been brought in before to conduct searches, but those have been in response to bomb scares, Maguire said. The most recent, she said, was last spring at Cedar Island Elementary School in Maple Grove.

The searches are intended as one of several efforts to make schools safer, Maguire said; others include installing better lighting and security cameras, and confining building exits and entrances to one front entryway.

District officials also consulted surrounding districts that also conduct random canine searches. Those, Maguire said, include Anoka-Hennepin, Hopkins and Minnetonka.

Other Twin Cities districts have employed random canine searches in the past.

Not a secret initiative

Maguire stressed that the district is spreading the news that police dogs will be sniffing around student cars for drugs. Indeed, district officials recently issued a release to the news media announcing the searches.

"The reason we issued the press release is we want people to know," Maguire said. "We don't want to surprise people. We're going to let the kids know again in the fall." The dates of the searches, however, will not be released.

The searches will be conducted as part of regular police business, Maguire said, and will not cost anything for the district.

Students will be pulled from classes should there be evidence of drugs in their lockers and cars, and asked to open them voluntarily.

"We're not going to break into somebody's car," she said. "But if a student declines a request for a search, we've got a problem. Our hope is we won't get into that situation."

Are student privacy issues a concern?

"Certainly, any time you conduct searches of lockers and cars there are privacy concerns," Maguire said. Still, she said, schools are legally entitled to conduct such searches.

A student found in possession of illegal drugs faces a three-day suspension for the first offense, Maguire said. Also, police are advised, parents are informed, and the student is referred for drug-use evaluation and counseling.

Penalties escalate with each offense. A student found to be distributing drugs faces expulsion from school for a year.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547

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