Officials Use [Fictitious Intruder] Ruse At Wolcott High To Clear Halls For Drug Search

Courant.com ^ | October 22, 2011 | Rick Green

[Immerito]

At Wolcott High School one morning this week, an urgent announcement crackled over the intercom: a threatening intruder was in the building and students were told to immediately take refuge in classrooms.

Doors were locked and police, with dogs, moved in. Students stayed huddled in classrooms where they were told to stay away from the windows.

But what sounded like a frightening situation was just a search for narcotics. Drug-sniffing dogs combed the school while students stayed in locked classrooms, believing that an attacker was roaming the halls.

Drug-free schools are an admirable goal but I wonder when we reached the point where the war on drugs justifies police searches under the ruse of a Virginia Tech-style attack.

[Ken H]

You're willing to spit on the Constitution to have your drug war, so it's not that surprising to find you defending liars.

[The Antiyuppie]

“Now if there is a real crisis the students will probably not believe it. I certainly would not trust anything the cops say after going through something like this.”

Are you implying that you or anyone should trust them now?

Seriously, if there really IS a fire, tornado, or other emergency at that school, kids scramble to get their goodies first, and then get injured or killed, it’s on the police and administrators’ heads.

[The Antiyuppie]

No drugs were found - how incompetent CAN you get? In most places, if the police want to find drugs, they will find them, right where they planted them.

[microgood]

Are you implying that you or anyone should trust them now?

I was kind of looking at it from the kid at school's perspective first time encounter with a bunch of cops. But you are right.

[Kakaze]

I am amazed the kids were not texting parents or guardians to tell them the school was under attack.

You could easily wind up with a parking lot full of media and scared parents, with a few swat guys sheepishly trying to explain how this was all for the publics own good, not just a gov't funded lets play soldier outing.

We are so busy trying to arrest our neighbor, that the true enemy moves among us without fear.

[Immerito]

I suspect at least a few of the kids had cell phones on them, so I wouldn’t be surprised if more than a few parents received “gunman in school” followed later by “nevermind. cops are checking for drugs”.

This is an attempt to condition the students to be good little sheep. They may have unintentionally created a few sheepdogs—from both the teens and the parents.

Back when common sense lived up to the name, most people understood that if you want a teenager (or anyone) to trust you, you don’t tell that person a lie.

[TankerKC]

The End Justifies The Means