Legality of drug dogs in question
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Board of Education committee will ask the attorney general's office to clear up a long list of legal questions before proceeding with a proposal to allow contraband-sniffing dogs on school campuses.
The board's committee on special programs heard pros and cons of the proposal yesterday, but took no action.
Mary Cochran, committee chairwoman, said the board is in the "very early stages" of developing a drug policy for the public schools and that the plan to use dogs to sniff out contraband would be only one aspect of the policy. She said it will be a minimum three months before a policy is drafted.
Once the guidelines are set, Cochran said, it will be up to the schools to decide if they want to implement the policy.
"We're looking at the development of a comprehensive policy as a guideline so we can go to the schools and say these are the legal limits under which you can adopt your own," she said.
Both legal and constitutional questions were raised yesterday about using specially trained dogs to detect drugs, alcohol and guns on campus.
Does a private company have the right to search lockers and other school property? If anything is detected, can the company or school administrators legally search students, their bags or other property? What happens if there is a false "hit" and no contraband is found?
Under a proposal by private firm Interquest Detection Canines, which wants the contract to implement the program, company employees, not school officials, would be responsible for searching student property. Board members also wanted to know if this would be allowable.
Board member Maggie Cox, a retired public school principal, said she was concerned about leaving the implementation of a policy to individual schools. This could result in lawsuits against principals and other officials.
"The schools need to know exactly what it is that they can and cannot do before we say we leave it up to the schools," Cox said. "I'm not saying I'm against the dogs, I'm just saying I don't want our administrators hung out to dry in this whole process."
Whitney White of Interquest said her company operates in 1,100 school districts in 26 states and said the program has survived legal challenges. She said the dogs detect contraband, but the property searches are conducted only with the permission of the student.
White said the dogs act more as a deterrent to bringing contraband to school. She said this leads to a safer campus and will give students an excuse to say no to drugs and alcohol.
Pamela Lichty, president of the Drug Policy Action Group, questioned the effectiveness of such a plan. She said students will learn to get around the program by hiding contraband on their person or not bringing it to school.
"This program is not drug prevention. It only teaches students to confine their substance use to outside of school," Lichty said.
She added that drug-sniffing dogs roaming school hallways will bring "conflict, polarization and more discontent" to a school's environment. Rather than looking for drugs, Lichty said, schools should provide more programs that encourage drug prevention, treatment and education.
Interquest Detection Canines conducts dog-sniffing programs at two Hawai'i private schools, Academy of the Pacific and Saint Louis. A Saint Louis official has said the school is pleased with the program.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
