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Original poster

drug search at school

394 replies

hahaRainbow · 13/02/2015 17:43

Is this legal? my ds has come home from school (state comp) where (he says) during a science class, a teacher arrived announcing that 'this is a drug free school and now we are going to have the sniffer dogs in'.

Apparently the kids were then lined up while a dog ran up and down sniffing them and another dog sniffed the classroom.

of course I'm not happy about drugs at school but I do wonder about the legalities of this and what IF a kid had been caught.... am I wrong to be worried?

OP posts:
Biscetti · 13/02/2015 19:50

This would only happen with adults in a prison, children should be given the same respect.

What bollocks. Airports, major stations, even seen them in cities.

KnittedJimmyChoos · 13/02/2015 19:51

I think its a good idea and they should randomly go to all schools, including Eton.

Haggisfish · 13/02/2015 19:51

Erm, no it wouldn't only happen in prisons! I've seen sniffer dogs sniffing everyone, adults, children etc at train stations, festivals, big events and airports! And thank goodness.

Haggisfish · 13/02/2015 19:52

Paleodad, no, all students are assumed innocent until the sniffer dog suggests otherwise! My students would LOVE it if a sniffer dog came in-even the badass ones (presuming they'd left their weed at home that day..)

Biscetti · 13/02/2015 19:53

Are drugs only ever present in prisons then

I think that must be the case. in precious snowflakes' eyes

Paleodad · 13/02/2015 19:53

And great, having av contrary opinion makes you a Muppet. Nice

Biscetti · 13/02/2015 19:53

Haha at badass students Grin

Biscetti · 13/02/2015 19:54

If the hat fits.

LuluJakey1 · 13/02/2015 19:55

It is legal.

bruffin · 13/02/2015 19:57

A sniffer dog indicated that DH had drugs on him at a German airport. Dh has never touched any illegal drugs in his life, he doesnt smoke and rarely drinks. He does take antidepressants and sometimes keeps them in the pocket the dog indicated, so they think it may have been the antidepressants the dog picked up.

Lambertsimnel · 13/02/2015 19:59

Biscetti - they weren't sniffing children on the way in to and out of school, they made them stand up and be inspected. Using your airport/train example that's like asking an entire carriage to stand up and be sniffed just on the off chance that someone is concealing drugs. It's an invasion of privacy.

As. I say, no objection if the school have a reasonable suspicion or a particular target but to expose students to a search like they are in prison is a shitty way for a school to behave.

Besides, if kids want drugs they will find them.

Paleodad · 13/02/2015 19:59

Please explain how worrying about civil liberties makes you a Muppet?

IAmAllImportant · 13/02/2015 19:59

My DD is in the first year of Middle School, that is year 5. Her school goes up to year 8.

Since she started there in September a 10 year old has been suspended for dealing drugs!

I think it was only a small amount of cannabis, but even so, I do not want it in my DC's school!

Alisvolatpropiis · 13/02/2015 20:01

No Paleo,they're all innocent and remain so unless caught out by the sniffer dogs.

CrystalHaze · 13/02/2015 20:02

The last few festivals I went to there were sniffer dogs everywhere and you couldn't get your wristband without agreeing to be sniffed. This was no problem as I had exercised my right not to bring illegal substances with me and it didn't even occur to me to get pissy about the lack of advance warning that the law applied there the same way that it did everywhere else in the land (which includes school premises).

Similarly, whenever I go through an airport scanner, I never think to get self-righteously indignant that I have been assumed to be guilty of terrorism/smuggling and am required to prove my innocence. I simply acknowledge that this is the way the world is nowadays, and that unfortunately the 99.99% of innocent population are sometimes mildly inconvenienced by methods designed to weed out the less innocent.

frasersmummy · 13/02/2015 20:03

this is from the bbc website
head teachers now have powers to search pupils (without parental consent), which is sometimes done by security staff at the school gate.

Some schools also use sniffer dogs to search for drugs. In this case parental consent is needed, and if it isn't given, pupils are searched by hand.

I am wondering if it wasn't a real sniffer dog.. just enough to put the fear of being caught in the kids

Paleodad · 13/02/2015 20:03

Nobody wants drugs in school, but there are ways to do it without assuming everyone guilty until the dog proves then innocent. Iv would have a big problem with my child being treated in this way.

Biscetti · 13/02/2015 20:05

Train station I said - bit different. Go to any main station in any big city and you will often be passed by police and sniffer dogs. Though tbh, wouldn't give a stuff if they walked down a moving train with a sniffer dog either. Illegal drugs are ILLEGAL. There ain't no invasion of privacy going on if one is carrying illegal substances.

Paleo insert civil liberties where invasion of privacy is, in the above para, which should explain. Carry illegal drugs, expect the risk of getting busted.

TheRealMaryMillington · 13/02/2015 20:05

Are drugs only ever present in prisons then, Mary?
That is so clearly not what I was driving at that I am now the confused one.

My objection is to the idea that our young people are being policed in this way, with a presumption of their wrong-doing.

Dogs at airports - well that's about catching traffickers, and people with explosives, not some kid with an eighth.

I totally support any school in a proactive anti-drug stance- of course.

LaurieFairyCake · 13/02/2015 20:07

Wtf are people on about Hmm

The police can search or have their dogs sniff you anywhere in a public place - and a school is a public place

You have no right to refuse or have an adult present

Any comparison with perfectly legal things is fatuous and utterly daft - it's illegal drugs

DoubletheRage · 13/02/2015 20:09

People who think they (the parents) should have had prior notice, what would have prior notice have changed for you/your child? What would you have done with that knowledge?

I did actually LOL at the idea that a poster's children are safe from drugs because they know about them. IME the more they know the less scary they are and the more they do. Not saying they shouldn't be educated about them, of course they should, but I am absolutely certain that knowing about drugs doesn't give any guarantee that they won't use them.

LaurieFairyCake · 13/02/2015 20:09

There is no presumption of wrong doing - what a weird thing to say

When my bag is searched going into the natural history museum (and all the kids are) it's not because they assume I'm doing something wrong

We have preventative policing

CrystalHaze · 13/02/2015 20:10

Nobody wants drugs in school, but there are ways to do it without assuming everyone guilty until the dog proves then innocent.

They are all assumed innocent until the dog suggests otherwise.

fattymcfatfat · 13/02/2015 20:13

this happened when I was at high school. its a good thing. it stops people taking illegal substances into schools and maybe selling it to children as young as 11. how would you feel if you had an 11 year old who bought and took some drugs because they wanted to look cool in front of the older children..pretty sure you wouldnt be questioning the legalities of having the older child (dealer) searched.

IgnoreMeEveryOtherReindeerDoes · 13/02/2015 20:15

I think its a great idea even though my child is scared of dogs and my word would shit hit the fan if my child was found to have drugs on them.