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McMaster: S.C. school drug raid was legal
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/3487575/detail.html ^

Posted on 07/03/2004 3:15:07 PM PDT by Stew Padasso

McMaster: S.C. school drug raid was legal

CHARLESTON, S.C. - No criminal charges will be filed against Goose Creek police officers who drew guns during a "grossly inappropriate" search for drugs at Stratford High School, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said Thursday.

"There is no evidence of any degree of criminal intent on behalf of the police officers or school personnel; thus a criminal prosecution would not be appropriate," McMaster said.

The Nov. 5 raid drew national attention after a videotape aired nationwide showed students being ordered to the floor and a drug dog prowling the hall. No drugs were found and no arrests were made in the sweep, which has spawned two civil lawsuits.

McMaster began investigating the sweep after a local prosecutor asked the Attorney General's office to intervene.

The state's chief prosecutor said school officials had "probable cause" to conduct a search for drugs but criticized police officers' decision to draw weapons during the search. McMaster said taking guns from holsters was a highly dangerous tactic that could have been deadly.

"Such raid tactics are well suited for a crack house but not a school house," he said.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: drugwar; leo; wod; wodlist
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To: SouthernFreebird
"while the cops were pistol whipping terrified teenagers"

What???

Sorry, I stopped reading after this. If this is your take on the incident, there's no reasoning with you.

41 posted on 07/05/2004 6:17:55 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: Salo
Oh well...as long as we are safe from all of the drugs they found....oh...wait....

It would be fairly easy for one bad cop to plant drugs on some unsuspecting kid. I live near a smallish town that has a huge police force. So, every few nights they set up DUI checkpoints and stop every car. This to me is pure revenue generation at its worst. There is a segment of society that would turn us into a police state in no time at all. All in the name of good intentions. re: Janet Reno protecting the kids at WACO.

42 posted on 07/05/2004 6:25:01 AM PDT by doosee (Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.)
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To: Salo
"The Goose Creek Police Department ... declined Jennings' request to conduct a drug search there. (T)he department is developing a school response policy and does not want to conduct a search until that is completed ... She did not know when that might be done."

BWAHAHAHAHA!

You know what? Take your f#$%ing time. As far as I'm concerned, let the gangs take over the schools.

If the new principal want to do a search, let him announce it a week in advance, say pretty please to the students, and simply ask them nicely if they have any drugs.

So, the parents wanted to press criminal charges? Civil suits to follow? F&*% 'em. They had their chance. Now let their kids be awash in drugs. Don't like it? Cough up the big bucks and put your kid in private school.

Oh, sweet revenge.

43 posted on 07/05/2004 6:29:10 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen
"Citing the peculiarities associated with searches on school grounds, the Court abandoned its requirement that searches be conducted only when a "probable cause" exists that an individual has violated the law. The Court used a less strict standard of "reasonableness" to conclude that the search did not violate the Constitution."
-- New Jersey v. T.L.O. 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
5 paulsen

robertpaulsen wrote:
You missed my post #5?
The damage here to kids using drugs is incalculable.

_____________________________________


As usual, paulsen, you pretend you don't realize that the real damage here is being done to our Constitution, -- and even worse, it's being done by our own Court system.

By the way, are you still trying to work up the nerve to tell us about your own personal stake in the WOD's?
36 tpaine

______________________________________


robertpaulsen wrote:
You and your cohorts have taught these kids that society is serious about enforcing its laws, especially when it comes to kids and drugs. That we will not tolerate scumbag drug dealers selling drugs
But don't worry. With the principal resigning and the upcoming civil lawsuits, I predict that drugs will be back in the hallways within a year. That should make you real happy.

______________________________________


Your pretense that children are being given a valuable Constitutional lesson by swat raids on their schools is ludicrous.

Just what is in all of this for you paulsen? Do you make your living off the war on drugs?
44 posted on 07/05/2004 8:06:39 AM PDT by tpaine (The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being" -- Solzhenitsyn.)
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To: robertpaulsen
Chalk up a win for the scumbag drug dealers and the bleeding-heart liberals who defend them.

90% of FReepers are against you on this. Are we really all "bleeding heart liberals"?

45 posted on 07/05/2004 8:43:37 AM PDT by jmc813 (Help save a life - www.marrow.org)
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To: robertpaulsen
The only gang Stratford has to worry about is the Country Clubbers - this is the richest school in the district: it butts up against homes like this. It's right on the Crowfield Plantation golf course. Yeah, it's a real drug-infested ghetto, I'll tell you.

As far as I'm concerned, let the gangs take over the schools.

So, the parents wanted to press criminal charges? Civil suits to follow? F&*% 'em. They had their chance. Now let their kids be awash in drugs. Don't like it? Cough up the big bucks and put your kid in private school.

Oh, sweet revenge.

I'm guessing the idea of putting Black kids on the ground at gunpoint excites you in a way even Viagara has been unable to help. The handcuffs, doubly so. Get help. Seriously - you are disturbed and more of a danger than any quantity of marijuana.

46 posted on 07/05/2004 9:06:49 AM PDT by Salo
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To: Salo
"I'm guessing the idea of putting Black kids on the ground at gunpoint"

Ooh. Making this a race issue, huh? Jesse Jackson is always looking for race-baiters -- give him a call.

"and more of a danger than any quantity of marijuana."

Who says they were only dealing marijuana?

"Several weeks ago, a student was arrested trying to pass out between 200 and 300 prescription pills, he said. After school ended Friday, one student threatened another and claimed to have a weapon."
--SEANNA ADCOX, of The Post and Courier Staff

That's the problem with you bleeding heart apologists. You refuse to see what's right in front of your nose. I pity you.

47 posted on 07/05/2004 9:34:13 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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Comment #48 Removed by Moderator

To: Stew Padasso
Please add me to the list. I just love to learn all of the new Gestapo tactics... I mean BATF tactics, and all of the neat things associated with this WOD.

BTW, I think that they all did obey the law. They just failed to use their heads, and have cost the citizens of their community a lot of hard-earned dollars... because the LEOs are exempt from lawsuits, but the gum't dept isn't!

I enjoyed the first hash of this, now we get to rehash!

49 posted on 07/05/2004 9:47:00 AM PDT by pageonetoo (Rights, what Rights'. You're kidding, right? This is Amerika!)
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To: SouthernFreebird

The mean average IQ of police officers is 104. They shouldn't be
allowed to have guns. Arm all the citizens instead, and watch
crime drop about 80 percent. Then we can start calling them "peace officers" again, which is what they are supposed to be.



50 posted on 07/05/2004 9:52:51 AM PDT by Trickyguy
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To: jmc813
In the first three months of the school year, two kids were expelled for dealing drugs -- one with 200-300 prescription pills.

The drug dealers were brazenly dealing in the school hallway -- they were organized and had lookouts posted.

Students and teachers, in addition to the video, reported this activity.

The Friday before the raid, one student threatened another with a weapon.

Now, faced with the above, imagine if the drug dealers were confronted by two or three undercover cops and gunfire broke out in the hallway. You would be screaming bloody murder that, given the above circumstances, the cops should have come in as a large intimidating force to prevent the drug dealers from taking any action that could injure the students.

"90% of FReepers are against you on this."

My priciples are not based on polling numbers.

51 posted on 07/05/2004 9:56:27 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: Trickyguy
"Arm all the citizens instead,"

The average IQ of citizens is 100 (by definition). Why do you think ... oh, nevermind. I give up.

52 posted on 07/05/2004 10:00:46 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen; All
"My priciples are not based on polling numbers."

Or history, rationality, respect for liberty, or even common sense.

Beyond irrational, paranoid hysteria, I can't see WHAT they're based on.

Those cops and administrators not only risked the lives of ALL students, they terrorized everyone, even the vast maqjority of innocent ones, as well as destroyed any trust they might have had in the protection of their rights. They made a joke outr of everything we stand for...all because of those darned DRUGS you so fear.

"I give up..."

Good. Your kind has done enough damage.

53 posted on 07/05/2004 10:09:28 AM PDT by Long Cut (The Constitution...the NATOPS of America!)
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To: robertpaulsen

robertpaulsen wrote:

In the first three months of the school year, two kids were expelled for dealing drugs -- one with 200-300 prescription pills.

The drug dealers were brazenly dealing in the school hallway -- they were organized and had lookouts posted.
Students and teachers, in addition to the video, reported this activity.
The Friday before the raid, one student threatened another with a weapon.

______________________________________


Now, faced with the above, imagine if
the Principal expelled the remaining dealers, and kept expelling any replacements..

Voila! A solution! No swat team needed!

Isn't that amazing..


54 posted on 07/05/2004 10:23:37 AM PDT by tpaine (The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being" -- Solzhenitsyn.)
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To: tpaine
"Voila! A solution! No swat team needed!"

Oh, but that way, the remaining students wouldn't have been "taught a lesson"...about the power of their masters.

It's my opinion that the reason no criminal charges were filed against the police was because such charges would have made the civil case vastly harder to defend against for the town.

Having made a complete mess of the whole thing, they now wish to do everything possible NOT to see that it doesn't happen again, but to cover their a$$es.

55 posted on 07/05/2004 10:47:37 AM PDT by Long Cut (The Constitution...the NATOPS of America!)
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To: tpaine
"imagine if the Principal expelled the remaining dealers"

Yes, I can imagine it. You see, I am very familiar with the Decatur, Illinois high school fottball game riot that took place a few years ago. Do you remember it?

56 posted on 07/05/2004 10:54:04 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: tpaine
Now, faced with the above, imagine if the Principal expelled the remaining dealers, and kept expelling any replacements.. Voila! A solution! No swat team needed! Isn't that amazing..

Do you mean *gasp* punish the actual offenders...

57 posted on 07/05/2004 10:54:35 AM PDT by SouthernFreebird
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To: Long Cut
"It's my opinion that the reason no criminal charges were filed against the police was because such charges would have made the civil case vastly harder to defend against for the town."

It's a conspiracy, I tell ya! Here, this is for you:


58 posted on 07/05/2004 10:58:43 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen

Refresh our memories palpsen, ~if~ , -- you can make a valid point.


59 posted on 07/05/2004 11:00:36 AM PDT by tpaine (The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being" -- Solzhenitsyn.)
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To: SouthernFreebird
I Agree!

Is seams that the police can pull out a piece and put it in the face of American children in a drug raid at a school.

However, the police can't pull out a piece and stop illegal aliens and drug runners at the Canadian and Marxican boarders.

Stop the drug before they enter the country. Oh, I forgot about full employment for criminals, lawyers, judges, prison guards and police.

Sorry...

60 posted on 07/05/2004 11:04:06 AM PDT by Major_Risktaker (Oderint dum metuant)
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