Police Dogs’ Sniff Search Is Deemed Constitutional

Allowing police dogs to sniff student lockers for drugs does not violate students’ constitutional rights, according to a legal opinion requested by the Simi Valley Unified School District.

The district is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to bring 10 officers and their dogs on campus while students are in class to sniff lockers for drugs. The exercise would serve as training for the county’s canine units and as a deterrent to students who would bring drugs to school.

A decision on the issue was delayed three weeks ago after board members raised concerns about future lawsuits if students felt their rights to privacy were violated.

But a legal opinion provided by the Los Angeles law firm Liebert, Cassidy and Frierson said that dogs sniffing lockers does not constitute a “search” under the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, and therefore does not violate rights.

Board President Judy Barry, who supported the use of the canine units from the beginning, said the opinion validated her position on the issue.

“I was comfortable with this all along,” she said.

The proposal was revised in response to other concerns voiced by board members.

Administrators would stay with police to write down the numbers of any lockers singled out by the dogs. The original proposal called for police to leave stickers on lockers to identify them for administrators. But some students and board members said the stickers might “mark” those students as involved with drugs before anything was proven.

Board members had asked that the searches be conducted on the weekend, when students are not present, but that does not fit with the training schedule of the canine units, officials said. Police did consent to keeping the animals leashed while on campus, according to the revisions.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.