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Little Found During Daily Drug Dog Searches In Escambia Schools
February 17, 2011
Drug dogs have been used daily in Escambia County’s schools since August, and, so far, very few illegal substances have been found.
Each day, at least one middle or high school in the county is randomly visited by a canine officer and his dog. The North Escambia schools — Ernest Ward, Northview, Ransom and Tate — have each had 13 to 17 random searches since the first day of school. The only findings at the North Escambia schools has been at Tate High School, with marijuana residue found in two different vehicles on campus.
Of 228 searches, there have been 17 searches with drug related finds.
“I’m amazed that some schools have a much higher hit rate than one might expect — while others that many might expect to yield big finds — have so far not had any significant findings,” Escambia County School Board Member Jeff Bergosh said on his blog where he posted the latest numbers. “I’m told the searches and the random nature in which they are being deployed is proving to be an effective deterrent to students bringing drugs to our schools. Less drugs at schools equals safer schools.”
Of the 19 schools searched, 10 have had positive searches. At Washington High, the K-9 has alerted on over half — six of eleven — visits, including finds of two grams of marijuana in a men’s bathroom, an empty baggie that smelled of marijuana and a find of a trace amount of marijuana.
The most searched school is Ransom Middle and West Florida High with 17 drug dog visits each. Bellview Middle, Ferry Pass Middle, and Pine Forest High have been searched 16 times each.
The Escambia County School Board implemented the random drug dog searches this school year, as part of an aggressive anti-drug and alcohol policy. Only one person at the district office, Manager of Protection Services Steven Sharp, knows which school will be visited in advance. The canine officer reports to the principal’s office upon his or her arrival and is accompanied during the search by an administrator or their designee.
Students are not being searched, and they are removed from any classroom that is searched. Searches also include hallways, lockers, parking lots and other common areas.
The district is spending $36,000 from its general fund over the course of a year for the program. Two dozen off-duty canine officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Pensacola Police Department are utilized for the searches.
The school district will hold a public hearing at 5:30 tonight to consider a proposed random student drug testing program. Click here for more information.
Pictured: Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Master Deputy Wayne Gulsby performs a drug dog search at Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
21 Responses to “Little Found During Daily Drug Dog Searches In Escambia Schools”
Schools today are nothing more than places to train kids to “Live In Fear”.
Kids today are subjected to being constantly Watched under the Camera, Raiding their schools with German Shepherds, and having Zero Tolerance on the slightest infraction but are taught we live in “Tolerant Society”.
They are taught basically that they have “NO HUMAN RIGHTS”.
Think about come on now who sells drugs and school and bring them to school dats stupid at least the people at our school handle there business outside school ground Sn:come on now
We need to stop wasting tax dollars on this nonsense. If marijuana is a gateway drug it’s because people smoke it ans say”hey, this is kinda nice and it’s really no big dead. Say, they probably lied to us about methedrine and heroin too. Let’s go!”
Like whitepunk, I know many professional peoplle who smoke pot even now without any detrimental effects on their business or their lives in general.
People should be able to smoke it,grow it,roll naked it it, or use it for insulation in their walls. All without penalty. When will we get Big Government out of our lives?
If we got these results (17 out of 228) on any other county program it would be scraped.Nobody, or very few nobodys bring drugs to school. So as we now know they will test kids at school. It reminds me of the WMD that were suposed to be in Iraq. We know there here somewhere. So if they can’t find them legally they will test our kids illegaly.
REGARDING:
David thinking as old as Willie is,he better do it soon or not at all.
OMG!!!!!! I am cracking up right now!!!!!!!!!!!
the searches are great but follow up by the school is very weak. One school a baseball player was caught with pot (second time). He was suspended from the team – during the fall. Oop… season starting suspension ends.
it seems to me that these random canine searches are proving to be an effective deterrent thus far….at the end of the year (school year or calender year?) id sure be interested in getting a public, definative, final analyisis of these programs, as it relates to the level of absenteeisms, disciplinary actions, scores, etc…until its proven to NOT be effective, then…im in favor of the canine searches and the taxpayer costs associated w/them…at least this is a forward effort towards the reduction of the growing drug usage amongst many of these escambia county teens…it beats sitting back in a corner, twiddling your thumbs, expecting most parents to do effective monitoring.
Waste of time & money. All political.
REGARDING:
“everyone knows pot is the gateway drug.”
So when’s Willie Nelson going through the gate?
David thinking as old as Willie is,
he better do it soon or not at all
I like it!! Keep the dogs coming. And whiteopunkondope…..everyone knows pot is the gateway drug. Maybe you have a few friends that didn’t get addicted to other hardcore drugs, consider that luck. Pot is illegal plain and simple.
I went to HS with lots of kids who did drugs, smoked weed and practically every one of them is now a doctor, lawyer, executive, manager, business owner… and they’re all in their late 40’s-50 years old. As a group, they are successful member sof this society.
Just because YOU didn’t do drugs as a kid and YOU think drugs are evil and bad doesn’t make you any kind of authority.
So when I read comments like:
“ALL we NEED to know is HOW MANY OF OUR KIDS are on
drugs, WHO ARE THEY, and lets get something done about it while
they have half a chance of recovering AND DOING SOMETHING GOOD
WITH THEIR LIVES, instead of become a detriment to society”
It just makes me laugh at how little some people know of what they talk about. Now excuse me while I go work on my departmental budget for 2011.
Invasion of privacy. Really?
I didn’t say lets peek up their skirts!
Lets just pull one little hair. Come on. I’ll pull one of mine and be the first
to be tested. Hows that?
REGARDING:
“I’m told the searches and the random nature in which they are being deployed is proving to be an effective deterrent to students bringing drugs to our schools. Less drugs at schools equals safer schools.”
An alternative explanation is that there wasn’t as much going on as he suspected. Interesting how he expected some to be bad, others to be perfect. Since it didn’t work out that way, he assumes the dogs cured the “problem”. Expectations of that nature are a form of prejudice–to have decided in advance who is guilty and who must be innocent.
Oh well, I imagine we all have our biases. Jeff’s just more open about his.
David for accepting facts
not explaining them away
@Horrific:
Honestly.?
As far as I’m concerned once these kids go through those doors they
have very little rights.
EVERYONE has rights, you have all your rights when you go to work. Don’t you?
Students deserve respect. Not all students are trash and do drugs. Its an invasion of privacy for the ones who don’t do wrong. If you ask me if the sherriff and his deputies can’t get a handle on it, they need to clean the whole department out and get someone in there that can.
You know you would think you all would want to do everything you could
to stop DRUGS…..
Are not all of you sick to death of the roll overs from drinking? The looks
on kids faces when they are busted and their eyes are glazed over in
their mugs shots?
Are you not sick of your friends, neighbors and towns people to say nothing
of some your relatives who get picked up for being nuts, drugged, and robbing
banks or drug stores. Or how about hitting a young teen in their vehicle and
running. DO WE REALLY NEED ANOTHER GENERATION OF IRRESPONSIBLE
DRUG ADDICTED OR DRUNK AND CRAZY ADULTS? HOW MANY MORE
PEOPLE DO WE WANT TO HOUSE IN JAIL?
THEY’RE INCOURAGABLE AT 40 AND IMPOSSIBLE TO HEAL.
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD PEOPLE GET MAD ABOUT THE RIGHT THINGS
FOR ONCE … WILL YOU.
Help out the kids in this town before they ALL DIE, WIPE SOMEONE ELSE OUTand END UP IN JAIL!
patriot
As far as I’m concerned once these kids go through those doors they
have very little rights.
It has always been interesting to me who gets worked up about what. If this was a school girl and I was suggesting she was molested to
determine if she had drugs I could understand.
However, ALL we NEED to know is HOW MANY OF OUR KIDS are on
drugs, WHO ARE THEY, and lets get something done about it while
they have half a chance of recovering AND DOING SOMETHING GOOD
WITH THEIR LIVES, instead of become a detriment to society.
THIS is to say nothing of the kids at school who have heard way to
often that, “if your not WITH them your AGAINST them.
WE ALL know what that means.
MAY I ASK ….WHO’S SIDE ARE YOU ON?
In response to “Horrific”: Might I suggest you familiarize yourself with the Bill of Rights, specifically the 4th amendment.
THIS IS JUST LIKE NOT TICKETING THE CULPRITS THAT SPEED DOWN
97 AND 29 EVERYSINGLE DAY and bully everyone else on the road
SOMEONE ISN’T TRYING to get the REAL BULLIES. WHY IS THAT?
Sheriff THERE is NOTHING random in this town. You know it, the
criminals know it, and those of us who would like this to become a
nice town know it. EVERY MOVE OF EVERYONE GETS REPORTED
IN THIS TOWN.
SHERIFF you and I know you can take hair follicles It just takes one little
hair, and there is nothing they can drink or hide that will not expose
the drug kids. WHY don’t you use a test that will really tell the story.
I know I don’t know what those test cost, but what is this costing and
apparently it isn’t working. Lets don’t run with a ball that isn’t the right one,
thats just money wasted.
FOR ALL THESE SCHOOLS AND ALL THESE DRUG PRECAUTIONS
IF IT TAKES STEALTH, USE IT AND ALL YOUR TECH.NOLOGY.
DRUGS ARE SERIOUS AND WE NEED TO GET SERIOUS OR LOSE
THIS WAR. We just don’t need another generation of no good druggies
who can’t read or write.
ASK the TEACHERS, they know who the problem kids are!!!!!
I
It states that students are not being searched. But under school findings, it’s stated, “Warringtion Middle School-Baggie of marijuana room #308 & baggie MJs on student” …apparently, they have searched students…
The searches are entirely random—no one at the school knows until the dog arrives. My classroom was searched one day (nothing found) and I didn’t know it was going to happen until the dean opened the door and asked me to move my students to the hallway. There is no “schedule” that we’ve been made aware of–might even get to see the dog two days in a row.
Don’t they still tell everybody that there coming? That way our schools don’t look as bad as they really are.