Dogs Nose About Schools, Seeking Drugs

In his first tour of duty in Los Angeles schools, Kimba the drug-sniffing dog already has won a couple of rounds without much effort. To avoid certain detection, high school students twice anonymously dumped bags of marijuana on the floor as soon as the panting canine entered their classroom.

School police say confiscations are rare, but drug busts are not the only goal for Kimba and another black Labrador who were introduced recently to middle and high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The surprise, random searches -- limited to property, not of the students -- also aim to discourage teenagers from bringing drugs to school.

The in-house program is the first of its kind for the Los Angeles district. In the past, searches by dogs had been relegated to just a few campuses that contracted with a private firm. Now, with the $5,000 purchase of Kimba and the donation of his partner, Buddy, by Guide Dogs of America, the school district police have canines to use at the request of all campus administrators.

Some civil libertarians oppose the tactic, saying it violates students’ right to privacy. Nevertheless, such patrols are becoming more common around the state and nation. For example, drug-sniffing dogs recently were approved for use in Marin County’s Novato Unified School District despite protests.

Los Angeles school police say it’s the least obtrusive way to keep contraband off school grounds.

“We try as hard as we can to make this as good an experience for the kids as possible,” said Officer Kevan Otto, who handles Buddy and boards the dog at his home.

The program, which is to be announced officially today, is a response to what authorities say are alarming statistics. The district’s latest data show that drug offenses -- which include possession of drugs or paraphernalia, sale of drugs or being caught under the influence -- have more than doubled in recent years.

The 730,000-student district recorded 1,098 such incidents in the 2000-01 school year and 2,515 the following year. Most are believed to involve marijuana, although harder drugs such as ecstasy and speed were found. Police say they have not changed their reporting methods and can offer no explanation for the jump, other than the increased vigilance of officers.

In about 45 searches since the dogs were introduced a month and a half ago, police said, they have found drugs on or near a campus four times. In addition to the two incidents when marijuana was dropped on classroom floors without anyone’s being identified as its owners, two truants were caught in their cars with that drug.

Beyond the numbers, the handlers say, the dogs are getting the message across that no knapsack, locker or car is safe.

Because of the district’s budget crisis, police hope to find enough donors of money or animals to add 10 more dogs.

The regional American Civil Liberties Union says it may look into challenging the use of the dogs. In 1997, the Galt Unified School District near Sacramento scrapped its plans to use a drug-sniffing dog before a court decision could be made on an ACLU lawsuit contending that the practice was unconstitutional.

“It makes schools more like a World War II prison camp,” said Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. “That’s not a conducive atmosphere to learning.”

During a typical search last week, dog handlers didn’t turn up anything illicit at Bethune Middle School in central Los Angeles. The first check was in an eighth-grade homeroom, where students were asked to get out of their seats and stand outside the door. Buddy was led into the room and rapidly paced the aisles, using a nose said to be a thousand times more sensitive than a human’s.

Trainers contend that a properly trained canine can sniff out a baby’s teardrop on a football field in five minutes. If any of the students’ bags had traces of marijuana, cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine, Buddy was sure to find it, Officer Otto said.

Most of the students seemed indifferent to the inspection, although a few said they didn’t like the idea.

“I felt like they were getting into all my stuff,” said one eighth-grader.

Christian Delgado, a sixth-grader whose classroom was inspected by Kimba and handler Officer Dale Cunningham later in the day, said he believes the dogs will prevent drugs from being sold on campus. “It just better not eat my bologna sandwich,” the 12-year-old said.

Hundreds of schools in California have taken up the tactic. Interquest, one of the largest drug-sniffing dog companies in the nation, has 41 franchises in 23 states. It contracts with 300 schools in California.

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Special correspondent Michelle Munn contributed to this report.