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Drug Dogs
updated: Sep 08, 2012, 12:37 PM
By Kelsey Abkin
Last Tuesday I arrived to my first period class only to be quickly ushered towards the auditorium. The
hall was densely packed with curious students, who had no idea what was going. It didn't ease our
curiosity when waiting at the opening to the auditorium were two large men dressed in uniform
accompanied by an aggressive looking dog. After twenty minutes full of commotion we were all seated
and everything was explained to us.
Our school had hired drug dogs to raid the school at random in order to catch those students who were
foolish enough to bring drugs on campus. The idea of a safer campus is something we all want but it
doesn't seem like this is the best way to go about it. As the men on stage talked of busting kids, the
school no longer felt safe. As students disrespectfully screamed out negative comments, I began to
wonder if these new and stricter precautions were losing the trust of the students.
The man on stage talked in a monotone voice, listing every substance worthy of consequences. It all
seemed very reasonable and comforting, the idea that campus be substance free. But then the man went
on to talk about "residual odor", explaining that these dogs were trained to distinctly sniff out any
abusive substance that has resided in a place anytime in the last two weeks. This is the point where I
began to question if this was infringing on students rights. It is known that as a student on campus,
your freedom is limited. But this limitation shouldn't apply to times off campus. Personally, this policy
doesn't effect me but I know plenty of people who it would. I also know it would be very easy to get
wrongfully accused due to "residual odor". For instance, you could be borrowing a car someone had a
beer in a week ago or any other bizarre, unlucky situations. While you do not get severely punished
from residual odor, it does call for a full strip search and embarassing call out of class. As students we
accept our freedom has limitations but outside of school we are considered citizens, punishable only by
our parents and the law, not our school.
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