School drug raid causes uproar

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/990598.asp?0cv=CB10

[NoCalMike 0]

I heard about this on the news and I was pretty disgusted. I mean what exactly was the principal hoping to find, a meth lab being operated out of the chemistry lab? Bringing in a police force with k-9 units seems a little overboard in order to find a dimebag of marijuana on some kid(s).

[Guest FrigidSoul]

They should have called Treat Williams instead

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Here's a better site about it.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/11/07/sch...raid/index.html

 

CNN) -- After complaints from parents and students, police in Goose Creek, South Carolina, defended their decision Friday to send a team of officers, some with guns drawn, into a high school earlier this week for a drug raid that turned up no drugs.

 

The Berkeley School District north of Charleston, South Carolina, also defended its role in the incident, which has triggered outrage among some in the community.

 

Stratford High School students described Wednesday's incident as frightening.

 

"They would go put a gun up to them, push them against the wall, take their book bags and search them," Aaron Sims, 14, told CNN affiliate WCSC. "They just came up and got my friend, not even saying anything or what was going to happen. ... I was scared."

 

Sims said his mother was "a little angry," but his father understood and "thought it was necessary."

 

Lt. Dave Aarons of the Goose Creek Police Department said the raid, the first the department has done at a school, followed a police investigation into drug activity that began after a student informed school staff about drug sales on school property.

 

Police monitored video from school surveillance cameras for several days and "observed consistent, organized drug activity," he said. "Students were posing as lookouts and concealing themselves from the cameras."

 

When the principal saw more of the same suspicious activity on the school surveillance video, he asked for the officers to respond, Aarons said.

 

On Wednesday, 14 officers went to the school "and assumed strategic positions," he said.

 

Within 30 seconds, officers had moved to "safely secure the 107 students who were in that hallway," Aarons said. "During that time some of the officers did unholster in a down-ready position, so that they would be able to respond if the situation became violent."

 

"The school also designated faculty to secure the hallway to keep other students from entering," Aarons said.

 

Anytime narcotics and money are involved he said there is "the reasonable assumption that weapons will be involved. ... Our primary concern was the safety of the students (and) everyone else involved."

 

'School had no knowledge that weapons would be drawn'

Aarons said "12 to 14 students" were placed in handcuffs or plastic flexcuffs "due to their failure to respond to repeated police instructions to get on their knees with their hands on their heads," after one of the lieutenants explained to the students what was going on.

 

A canine unit was brought in and the dog responded positively to 12 book bags, which were then searched by school officials, said David Barrow, secondary school supervisor for the Berkeley School District. But no drugs were found and no arrests were made.

 

"The school had no knowledge that weapons would be drawn," Barrow said. "We understand students' and parents' and the community's concerns about this particular search. We will work internally and with local law enforcement to be sure these issues are addressed."

 

Still, he said, the school was concerned about possible drug sales on campus, and believed action was necessary.

 

Jared Weeks, 14, told WCSC that police were aggressive.

 

"They kind of pushed us against the wall and started searching us," Weeks said. "I didn't think all that was called for."

 

Weeks said he was "kind of nervous," but not scared "because I didn't have anything to hide."

 

He said there are a lot of drugs in the school, but that this sort of raid was unnecessary. "There is certain people that you know sell drugs," he said. "They could have just searched those people."

 

Aarons said police believe the drug-dealing students were tipped off.

 

"I don't think it was an overreaction," he said of the raid. "I believe it was one tactical method by which we could safely approach the problem to ensure that everybody was safe."

 

He said the incident is being reviewed, as is every police operation.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Yeah, I live around the area, and it's caused a pretty massive uproar here on both sides of the issue. Certainly they must have had just cause to do this, but it's VERY embarrassing to not find anything.

 

And surprising they didn't find any at Goose Creek. The entire North Area of the Charleston metro area is rotten.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Hopefully this scared some of these little terrorists straight.

 

I guess Berkeley is a drug-free zone...

[Art Sandusky 0]

Trust me, it isn't.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

You a drug dealer now that you got canned from your last job?...

[Lil' Bitch 0]

The fact that they turned up with nothing makes this story fucking hilarious.

[King Kamala 0]

Where's Richard Grieco when you need him?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Hopefully this scared some of these little terrorists straight.

Conversely, I have to wonder what kind of precedent the police think they're showing the kids to bring (presumably) live firearms into a school.

[Slayer 0]

Hopefully this scared some of these little terrorists straight.

Conversely, I have to wonder what kind of precedent the police think they're showing the kids to bring (presumably) live firearms into a school.

Would it have been better if they invaded with walkie talkies instead?

[cynicalprofit 0]

And adults wonder why kids show them and cops no respect

[Vern Gagne 0]

Who gives a fuck what these kids think about the cops. They could of found 100 kilos of coke, and nuclear warheads, and the kids would of still bitched.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Who gives a fuck what these kids think about the cops. They could of found 100 kilos of coke, and nuclear warheads, and the kids would of still bitched.

I would bitch too if they took my coke and nuclear weapons

[Vern Gagne 0]

So would I. It was more of an observation.

[Slayer 0]

Who gives a fuck what these kids think about the cops. They could of found 100 kilos of coke, and nuclear warheads, and the kids would of still bitched.

I would bitch too if they took my coke and nuclear weapons

"Dammit, do you know how much coke I had to sell for that plutonium?!"

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

So basically, they saw some high school kids acting shifty, and brought in some armed cops, made everyone get down on the ground, ran a police dog around everybody, went through their stuff, wasted everyone's time and tax money, for nothing.

 

Maybe the next gestapo raid that gets planned should have some actual evidence before they decide to go in like that. I don't know why principals decide to run schools like jails.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

EDIT: Nevahmind.

[Slayer 0]

I don't know why principals decide to run schools like jails.

Because many students are like prisoners? </captainobvious>

 

The resemblances are there, all the way down to the gang sodomy

[NoCalMike 0]

I still am not sure what the principal was hoping to find in this raid. I mean if there was a certain student or group of friends he had a reason to believe were a student cartel, then why not quietly bring them into the principal's office w/escort so that they don't disrupt the entire student body. I mean, I'd like to hope the principal didn't pull the trigger on this raid just because he thought a student had a joint or something of that calibur.

[snuffbox 0]

'Why do kids keep killing us?' - School faculty

[NoCalMike 0]

Would be interesting if this principal lobbys the government to institute the first ever Battle Royale.

[Highland 0]

I still am not sure what the principal was hoping to find in this raid.  I mean if there was a certain student or group of friends he had a reason to believe were a student cartel, then why not quietly bring them into the principal's office w/escort so that they don't disrupt the entire student body.  I mean, I'd like to hope the principal didn't pull the trigger on this raid just because he thought a student had a joint or something of that calibur.

Because the faculty and the police can more easily instill fear and compliance by the students by using the tactics use agianst them. Also, any mention of drugs opens the door for the police to basically throw out the Miranda book and to use any means desired to achieve an arrest.

[Sandman9000 0]

Maybe the next gestapo raid that gets planned should have some actual evidence before they decide to go in like that. I don't know why principals decide to run schools like jails.

Because most of the students either belong in jail and/or will go to jail in the future, and the principals are just doing their job in getting them ready for the real world.

 

No, I'm not bitter or anything...

[NoCalMike 0]

Maybe the next gestapo raid that gets planned should have some actual evidence before they decide to go in like that. I don't know why principals decide to run schools like jails.

Because most of the students either belong in jail and/or will go to jail in the future, and the principals are just doing their job in getting them ready for the real world.

 

No, I'm not bitter or anything...

WTF.......STUPID would be more accurate.

Edited November 10, 2003 by NoCalMike

[cynicalprofit 0]

If some kid had a gun that day and he shot first, would anyone have been shocked? I mean cops arent suppose to come into schools with guns out.

[MrRant 0]

If some kid had a gun that day and he shot first, would anyone have been shocked? I mean cops arent suppose to come into schools with guns out.

And why the fuck not? Their the police. They can walk done the street with a gun in one hand and a Krispy Kreme in the other.

[Guest Goodear]

I find the whole thing a bit shifty when you have one kid saying that he knows some kids sell drugs and the search turns up nothing.

 

Weeks said he was "kind of nervous," but not scared "because I didn't have anything to hide." He said there are a lot of drugs in the school, but that this sort of raid was unnecessary. "There is certain people that you know sell drugs," he said. "They could have just searched those people."

 

So I'm thinking these kids knew it was coming and at least had the discipline to get rid of it before the raid hit home. Plus the idea that they would find NOTHING sends up a whole lot more warning signals than if they would have found a roach or two. A high school with no drugs is a statistical impossibility and I think most of us know that.

[NoCalMike 0]

I find the whole thing a bit shifty when you have one kid saying that he knows some kids sell drugs and the search turns up nothing.

 

Weeks said he was "kind of nervous," but not scared "because I didn't have anything to hide." He said there are a lot of drugs in the school, but that this sort of raid was unnecessary. "There is certain people that you know sell drugs," he said. "They could have just searched those people."

 

So I'm thinking these kids knew it was coming and at least had the discipline to get rid of it before the raid hit home. Plus the idea that they would find NOTHING sends up a whole lot more warning signals than if they would have found a roach or two. A high school with no drugs is a statistical impossibility and I think most of us know that.

Who cares if the cops found something, that still is really no excuse. What would have satissfied the principal, if a student or two had a joint on them? No way in hell was this raid worth the waste of time.