Thursday, November 15, 2007

HS Drug Sweep

I received a note from a reader who noted that the HS conducted a drug sweep last week.

I know there are all kinds of rights issues that come up when these take place, but the schools are trained and have knowledge how to do them correctly so they are (or should be) compliant with current laws.

Clearly I'm not privy to discussions that take place between the police and schools, but the issue of drugs in and around the school and of potential problems at the Park over the summer were held prior to Nazareth hiring its new Chief.

One of those discussions at Council included the idea that the school should get together with a variety of law enforcement (from NASD area) and possibly county or state resources to discuss a more comprehensive plan of action to best ensure students are safe from drug dealers and drug use.

I also don't know what changes have taken place with afternoon patrols around the schools, but there has been a marked difference at least around Shafer during the morning drop-off time. Most days I now see a police car. Hopefully the same is being done around the HS where some residents had noted cars of individuals they believe were dealing drugs. This might be a good area to have officers on foot or bike.

Without question drug use, sales or the potential of both are not unique to Nazareth, but it would be nice if we were pro-active in combating it to the best of our ability.

What do you think? Have changes taken place? Better? Worse? Or is this (the HS drug sweep) just an annual activity much like a fire drill to check off a list of things to do?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I remember drug sweeps, dogs sniffing out lockers, etc, when I was in High School in the early 90's. More often than not, they would turn up one or two people who left their "stash" in their locker.

Are the sweeps effective? To a degree, yes, I'd agree so - so long as they are spontaneous. But to really keep it out of school, they need to be more frequent. Even then, unless you strip search everyone - you'll never totally keep drugs out of school.

The ONLY way to keep our kids out of trouble, and away from drugs, is to be strong parents. Period.

sick of it said...

There is more of a problem with adults doing drugs in Nazareth than our students. Rampant drug use goes on in these so called social clubs and bars and its disgusting. The police need to watch these places more and several large apartment buildings on Main st especially! Wake up these are the people who give and sell drugs to our children, I have lived on green st for many years and have seen people walk down the street wasted and stoned. Come on Nazareth Police start busting these people the killing our town!