Drug sweeps curb use of narcotics in Richmond area schools
March 1, 2010 | VACP
By MARK BOWES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond police K-9 officer Robin Robinson has lost count of the number of public schools she has helped sweep for drugs.
Hundreds would be on the low side. "I've done a lot," she said.
At the start of a new school day last Thursday, Robinson and her drug-sniffing black Labrador retriever, Bo, were hard at work again at Richmond Community High School, looking for contraband in four classrooms picked randomly by school security officers. After a 40-minute sweep there, Robinson and another K-9 crew traveled to Armstrong High School, where several more classrooms were searched. "Today, there was nothing found," she said. "Everything was good." School drug sweeps have become so commonplace across the region that hardly a week goes by that police aren't checking on students somewhere. Police in the Richmond and Tri-Cities areas last year conducted at least 126 sweeps at 61 schools -- some twice or more -- in what has become a perpetual cycle of drug deterrence at the region's middle and high schools. The effort has been under way nearly 20 years in some localities. Authorities believe a measure of the sweeps' success can be found in the paltry quantity of narcotics being found -- compared with the plentiful finds more than a decade ago. Of last year's 126 sweeps, drugs were discovered 13 times, and in each of those cases they were small quantities of marijuana. Seventeen students were arrested. "There was a time, especially back in the mid-1990s, when drug use among teens was really exploding, and . . . schools were considered a safe [place] to take drugs," said Dana G. Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. It was during that period, Schrad said, that authorities decided a proactive law-enforcement approach was needed. "It was one of the reasons that school resource officers came to be," said Schrad, who as a consultant to the National School Safety Center in the 1990s visited school systems that were addressing drug and crime problems. Drug sweeps also were initiated, and in those early days, it wasn't unusual to find narcotics or alcohol during each check. On a single day in 1993, for example, Chesterfield County police arrested six students after sweeps at three high schools. Police believe most students have gotten the message. "We'd like to think that this is a valid and strong deterrent to kids bringing drugs into schools," Chesterfield police Capt. David Pritchard said of the sweeps. In conjunction with school officials, Chesterfield police conducted 23 random sweeps at 15 middle and high schools last year and arrested five students for possessing small quantities of marijuana. Henrico County police Chief Henry W. Stanley Jr., whose predecessor, Col. Richard G. Engels, started school drug sweeps in the county nearly 20 years ago, also believes they have had the desired effect. "There's not that many drugs that are being kept in lockers or backpacks or things like that," he said. Henrico police conducted more drug sweeps last year than any other area locality -- 53 at 23 schools. Despite the large number, only two students were arrested. The low number of arrests "is not telling you that there's nothing on campus," said Henrico police Lt. Michael Palkovics, who oversees the department's K-9 unit. "But it is telling you that if it is there, the percentage is very small because of the randomness" of the sweeps. Richmond police last year conducted 26 sweeps at 13 city public schools and at one private school, Benedictine High School. Marijuana residue was found during sweeps of two of the public high schools, but no arrests were made in 2009. "I don't know if it's a fact of the students just getting smarter, or because the narcotics just aren't there," said Robinson. However, she noted with some frustration that K-9 officers are prohibited in Richmond from sweeping students with their dogs, which allows some students to go undetected. There's no such restriction in Henrico or Chesterfield, officials in those localities said. Although police primarily target school facilities and student belongings, their "passive" drug dogs also can be used to detect contraband on students. During sweeps, police limit their duration to 30 to 45 minutes. "We try and use an efficient complement of K-9 handlers; we've done it before with as many as nine," said Hanover County sheriff's Capt. Michael Trice. "We want to move through the facility fairly quickly." The Hanover Sheriff's Office swept each of the four high schools once last year and found marijuana each time. Ten students were arrested. In Prince George County, police have discontinued using drug dogs during sweeps and have opted instead to search students' belongings individually by classroom. Last year at three Prince George secondary schools, police and school officials conducted four building-wide searches and 13 localized searches on specific building wings or classes. A handful of students were found in possession of over-the-counter medications, Prince George Sgt. Chris Douglas said. "We have had the same results, with or without the drug dogs," Douglas said. Debi Adabie, president of the Virginia PTA, said her association has never taken a position on school drug sweeps, but the VAPTA "respects and supports a school division's right to set policy" about such matters. Schrad, of the Virginia police chiefs association, said school drug sweeps haven't been a contentious issue. "It hasn't been something that has raised a lot of concern to the point where we have to take a position," Schrad said. "It's just considered a good preventive practice of promoting school safety and detecting illegal drugs." Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
