Posted on 01/08/2002 3:45:05 AM PST by Wolfie
By MARY KAY DIRICKSON
THE SUN HERALD
The superintendent of Hancock County schools says he is prepared to strip search students to find drugs, if necessary.
"They're pretty creative about how they hide their drugs," Superintendent Mike Ladner said. "It may be in their crotch area, where we're not patting them down . . . We're dealing with criminals here."
Ladner said he is launching an “all-out war” on drugs after a high school student overdosed on prescription sleeping pills before the Christmas holiday. He said he is prepared to have students stripped naked, if they are suspected of having drugs.
He can do it, too, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
While police can't perform strip searches without probable cause to believe they might find a weapon or drugs, school officials have to have only a reasonable suspicion.
Jeff Klingfuss, a special assistant attorney general, said school officials have more flexibility than police officers when conducting searches and seizures on students.
"The main concern is to create a safe environment (at school)," Klingfuss said. "You're trying to create an environment that's clear of drugs."
Schools and law enforcement have different standards of suspicion because they serve different purposes, Klingfuss said. Schools are responsible for the safety of all the children, and so must act as parents sometimes. In the same way that parents can be concerned about their child's safety and search them for drugs, so can a school official.
A police officer, on the other hand, has the job of enforcing the law. When officers search a suspect, they are looking to gather evidence for prosecution.
Although any drugs that are discovered during a school search can be used in prosecuting a child, youth courts are more likely to seek treatment for a child, Klingfuss said.
Ladner said he would strip search a student only if he was confident the student had drugs and there was a possibility that harm could be done, either to that child or to others.
But Klingfuss said that, by law, it need not be an emergency for a student to be searched by school officials because of the importance of schools being drug-free environments.
Ladner said that before doing a strip search, he would consider the credibility of the information source and the discipline record of the accused student. He would also interrogate them, give them a general pat-down, warn them about the strip search and call their parents.
But by law, parents do not have to be notified of the search, Klingfuss said.
Ladner said that he has never been involved in a strip search, and Klingfuss said they are rare in Mississippi schools. And Ladner said that while students' Fourth Amendment rights don't protect them from unlawful search and seizures at school, he did not want to violate the students' privacy unless it was absolutely necessary for student safety.
Johnny Purvis, a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and a sheriff's deputy, said he would approach a strip search with trepidation.
"The courts by and large frown upon any kind of strip search that happens in the school," Purvis said. "If you were to even consider a strip search, you would want something more than reasonable suspicion."
But by law, parents do not have to be notified of the search, Klingfuss said.
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