Drug-Sniffing Dogs Cause Stir at School : Search: No substances are detected at Huntington Beach High. Some students protest, stage brief sit-in.

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Tensions flared briefly Friday morning as police dogs for the first time began sniffing for drugs on the Huntington Beach High School campus.

About 100 students protested in front of the school and threatened to stay out of their classes. Twenty of those students staged a brief sit-down on the sidewalk. The protesters said the use of the three dogs violated their constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure.

“Don’t do this to yourselves,” said Principal Jim Staunton as he calmly walked among the protesting students. “Go back to your classrooms. You had the opportunity to give your views to the school board when they discussed this, and you didn’t. But you still can go to the board and tell them your feelings.”

After about 10 minutes, the demonstration broke up without incident and the students returned to their classes.

No drugs were found, but police dogs discovered a “positive scent” from a backpack near one locker, Staunton said. The principal said subsequent investigation by school officials found that “something inside that backpack had been exposed to dope smoking at a party, but no drugs were in the backpack.”

Officer Mike Corcoran, a spokesman for the Police Department, said the program’s goal is deterrence--not apprehension.

“When kids know they’re going to be looking for drugs on campus, they’re not going to be bringing drugs,” he said.

The trustees of Huntington Beach Union High School District on April 13 unanimously voted to allow police dogs to search the district’s seven high schools in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster. Only one adult and no students spoke against the proposal the night the board approved it. School officials have subsequently said that most parents and students have indicated support for the program.

Friday’s search at Huntington Beach High was the first. The dogs will search at Marina, Edison, Ocean View, Westminster and Fountain Valley high schools in future weeks, on a random basis.

Police and school officials said the program is designed so that students and police dogs never come into contact. Dogs are permitted to sniff around lockers and parked cars on campus only while students are in class. During class breaks, the dogs are removed to perimeter areas.

The on-campus dog searches are the first in Orange County, Corcoran said. The Orange Unified School District allowed dogs to sniff for drugs on school buses last last year after students got off. But Orange Unified has not had on-campus searches by police dogs.

On Friday, as the student demonstration ended, seniors Andi Hamamoto and Amy Schneider, both 17, approached school officials and police to protest.

“Most of the students I’ve talked to think this is a violation of our Fourth Amendment rights” prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure, Schneider said.

Hamamoto agreed. “We have rights, and those rights shouldn’t be infringed upon.”

During the brief demonstration, some students had yelled that the school district was wasting money on the program. Principal Staunton responded: “It costs absolutely zero.”

On April 20, Staunton sent a memorandum to all students to alert them to the police dog project.

The memo read: “The dogs will be allowed in our halls and locker rooms at times when students are in class or after school. They will check for the scent of drugs or contraband. If a ‘positive’ is made by the dog, we will note the locker or car and then bring the locker owner in to inform him or her of the positive response. We will ask that person to open the locker, and we will search the contents. If drugs are found, a determination will be made as what to do. This will be a school matter. We and the police have agreed that we will not call them in unless we find evidence of hard drugs or drugs in sufficient quantity to warrant police involvement.” He did not elaborate about which substances officials would consider hard drugs.

Brian Mann, 18, a senior, thinks most students at Huntington Beach High support the searches.

“I think it’s good,” Mann said. “Let the dogs come in here, and let’s get the drugs out of here. The only people who are upset about this are people who have a problem with it.”

District Supt. David Hagan also said that the program has been well-received overall.

“We’ve had some concerns expressed, but they are at a minimum,” Hagan said. “Frankly, it’s been more of a positive response than a negative response.”