# Officials Use "Ruse" To Clear Halls....For Drug Search



## MJS (Oct 24, 2011)

http://www.courant.com/news/connect...en-drugsearch--1022-20111022,0,4150328.column



> At Wolcott High School one morning this week, an urgent announcement crackled over the intercom: a threatening intruder was in the building and students were told to immediately take refuge in classrooms.
> Doors were locked and police, with dogs, moved in. Students stayed huddled in classrooms where they were told to stay away from the windows.
> But what sounded like a frightening situation was just a search for narcotics. Drug-sniffing dogs combed the school while students stayed in locked classrooms, believing that an attacker was roaming the halls



Thoughts?  Seems like the method they used is causing some issues.


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## jks9199 (Oct 24, 2011)

OK, it looks like they used a routine lockdown drill as an opportunity to clear the halls.  No problem on that count -- if it was conducted exactly the same as any other lockdown drill would have been until they brought the dogs in.

As to the search...  It's legal.  On multiple counts.  A trained K9 sniff in the vicinity of something has been held not to be a search, anymore than glancing into open windows is a search.  And students have no privacy interest in their lockers on school property.  Most schools today advise students (and anyone else coming onto the property) that their persons and their property are further subject to search.


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## MJS (Oct 24, 2011)

Personally, I dont see anything wrong with what they did either, as long as what JKS said, holds true, about the way they went about doing things.


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## Carol (Oct 24, 2011)

Sounds like it wouldn't take much for this to turn in to the "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", eh?   Being dishonest with the students does not sound like the wisest example to set.


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## Bill Mattocks (Oct 24, 2011)

I don't think it was necessary to put students in actual fear of a gunman in the school; but as far as the containment and search goes, no problem.


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## crushing (Oct 24, 2011)

Carol said:


> Sounds like it wouldn't take much for this to turn in to the "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", eh? Being dishonest with the students does not sound like the wisest example to set.



Apparently, some people take trust more seriously than others.  I disagree with the comment in the article about it being a horrible civics lesson.  The students and their parents certainly got some real world education in government affairs, probably more than a chapter's worth of dry reading.


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## MA-Caver (Oct 24, 2011)

I can understand that they don't want to announce "drug search" because students would take their stuff and either hide it on their persons (via back packs or where-ever) and the locker searches turn up nothing... But I agree scaring the students by announcing a potential mad dog killer roaming loose in their halls... to me that's just wrong and breeds an air of distrust and resentment and mostly fear among the innocent. They can simply say lock down for drug-search while students are in the classrooms and make a few (of the guilty) sweat a little in their seats because they can't get up and move/hide their stuff prior to the search because it's already in progress. 
Don't LIE to kids... haven't they (adults) learned anything about child rearing? If you want the next generation of tax payers to trust the authorities then don't try to hookwink them.


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## ballen0351 (Oct 24, 2011)

MA-Caver said:


> I can understand that they don't want to announce "drug search" because students would take their stuff and either hide it on their persons (via back packs or where-ever) and the locker searches turn up nothing... But I agree scaring the students by announcing a potential mad dog killer roaming loose in their halls... to me that's just wrong and breeds an air of distrust and resentment and mostly fear among the innocent. They can simply say lock down for drug-search while students are in the classrooms and make a few (of the guilty) sweat a little in their seats because they can't get up and move/hide their stuff prior to the search because it's already in progress.
> Don't LIE to kids... haven't they (adults) learned anything about child rearing? If you want the next generation of tax payers to trust the authorities then don't try to hookwink them.



Most schools do these types of drills now.  Just like a fire drill.  Where I work at least 2 times a year at every school in our jurisdiction we  hold these drills and officers walk thru while its going on and make sure its going as it should.  Sadly its part of going to school in America now.  Kids now days treat it just like a fire drill they are not "scared" its just a normal drill they do.


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## punisher73 (Oct 25, 2011)

I am currently assigned as a School Resource/Liaison Officer, and in Michigan, we are required by law to do a certain number of drills each year, and lockdown is one of them.  I use that opportunity to bring in our K-9 units and check lockers/cars.  But, we just announce the lockdown and don't elaborate and make something up to scare them.

Think about this one.  With cellphones, you tell a bunch of kids that there is an armed person in/around the school and you are going to have just about everyone calling their parents, then those parents are going to keep calling the school or showing up to get there kid out of there.  It is just going to make a lot more work for everyone involved.  Especially, since you can conduct a lockdown drill without having to do all of that.


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## Buka (Oct 25, 2011)

Tough call. But I think it could cause some kids to not trust police/teachers/authority.


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## NSRTKD (Oct 25, 2011)

Okay, I'm confused. Isn't a "drill" supposed to be a "We're locking down the school, this is just a drill" kinda thing, staged and the students are aware it is just a practice? Like with a fire drill, I don't remember them ACTUALLY having fire engines show up or trick us with smoke in the halls or anything, it was practice and we knew it was practice. To pretend there is "really" a threatening intruder in the school could cause panic, and if some vigilante-minded student saw a person he/she didn't recognize and took action to subdue that person, I bet the "hero-type" student would end up getting seriously, seriously hurt by the police.


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## Carol (Oct 25, 2011)

naomisarah said:


> Okay, I'm confused. Isn't a "drill" supposed to be a "We're locking down the school, this is just a drill" kinda thing, staged and the students are aware it is just a practice? Like with a fire drill, I don't remember them ACTUALLY having fire engines show up or trick us with smoke in the halls or anything, it was practice and we knew it was practice. To pretend there is "really" a threatening intruder in the school could cause panic, and if some vigilante-minded student saw a person he/she didn't recognize and took action to subdue that person, I bet the "hero-type" student would end up getting seriously, seriously hurt by the police.



They may or may not say "this is a drill".  However, the point of a drill is to show adherence to good emergency procedures.  In an emergency situation, describing the details of the scenario to one's charges rather than focusing on the action required is not a particularly good practice.

A lockdown drill could be for an active shooter situation, but it could also be for a dangerous animal in the school (up in the mountains, we've had a bear enter a police station!), a chemical spill outside the school, or a number of situations where lockdown procedures are best for the child's safety.  In an emergency it doesn't necessarily matter what "IT" is, what is most important is that communication is focused on the actions required to keep everyone safe under the circumstances.  Another part of the drill is communicating the All Clear so school business can resume, or transitioning from a lockdown to an evacuation.

Is a lockdown necessary for a drug search?   I don't know...maybe so.  

But telling kids there is a shooter in the school is not necessarily a good practice, deliberately lying to them is worse.


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## David43515 (Oct 25, 2011)

Seems pretty poorly thought out to me. I`m all for safety drills and I have no problem with the search, but to anounce to the kids that there`s a dangerous intruder *in the building *and then let them sit in the dark for 10 minutes before you announce that it`s a drill seems pretty irresponsible.


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## MPC1257 (Oct 26, 2011)

I visited the Waterbury Republican and American newspaper's web site to check their slant on the lockdown.  They didn't make any judgements, just reported what they knew.  This is a comment that was posted:
*
wolcott teacher* wrote on Oct 21, 2011 10:05 AM:
" Once again, the whole story is not being told. Every time we conduct this drill, the principal tells us if there is an inside threat or an outside threat. He has to do this so teachers know which protocol to follow. The exact same drill was done last year and during it, the police dogs were brought in. What makes this case different is that the drill occured during a class assembly. Many teachers and students thought that a drill would never have been performed during an assembly and that is what caused a few moments alarm, not the way Dr. Eblere announced it. The drill was pre-planned without knowledge of the assembly. In the end, it is good to practice in different circumstances and to keep everyone on their toes. "

I agree with this comment in that, you must scenario train to determine if the protocols are practical or need to be modified.  The whole point is to see how teachers and students react in this situation.  That way, God forbid, a real situation occurs they will have had some experience.  

Just my 2 cents.


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