Police Invade High School in Mass Drug Raid -- Find One Piece of Paraphernalia

[Pat McCotter]

[NOTE: The students had just left school on a half-day schedule.]

Police Invade High School in Mass Drug Raid -- Find One Piece of Paraphernalia

Drug raid at Wethersfield High
By Rachel Guerra

Wethersfield (WTNH) - Officers from numerous police departments charged into Wethersfield High School Thursday to hunt for drugs.

Armed with police dogs, officers from Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, Manchester and New Britain raided the high school at 411 Wolcott Hill Road.

Locker by locker and room by room, police and their dogs sniffed around to send the school district's message that drugs will not be taken lightly.

Police also searched more than 100 cars in the school's parking lot, which led to the arrest of one student for drug paraphernalia.

Police ended up not finding any drugs, and that lone arrest is something School Superintendent Michael Kohlhagen is proud of.

"This is just one step in the right direction, to ensure our students continue to learn and thrive in a drug free environment." Kohlhagen said and later added, "This issue has been and remains a priority; our entire administration and faculty remain committed to the health, safety and welfare of our students."

Kohlhagen said Thursday's raid proves that Wethersfield High School is safe and drug free.

[Pat McCotter]

One WHS student arrested after narcotics sweep
By: Staff and press reports
04/03/2009

A narcotics sweep at Wethersfield High School last Thursday, March 26 yielded one drug paraphernalia arrest for items found inside a car in the parking lot, police said.

In addition disciplinary action was taken against that student and one other. The action against the second student was also based on the parking lot action, in which K-9 units were used to sniff around the cars.

After the students left school on the half day, dogs sniffed the lockers at the school. Nothing was found in the school, police said.

"It is another proud day for the Wethersfield Public Schools," said Michael Kohlhagen, superintendent of schools. "We are proud of our student body and are happy to send a very clear message that we continue to be vigilant about our commitment to ensuring that our high school is a safe haven for our students and community."

Kohlhagen said the sweep was just the first of several activities aimed to take a "proactive" approach to keep the school drug free. A second event, a Community of Concern meeting, took place earlier this week.

"We use this opportunity to confirm that Wethersfield High School remains a safe and drug free school," Kohlhagen said. "This is just one step in the right direction, to ensure our students continue to learn and thrive in a drug free environment. We remain intent on strengthening our outreach, awareness and prevention campaign and partnering with our students, parents, community and local law enforcement to continue to educate and support our children and to appropriately attack our national drug problem in a very proactive manner. As superintendent of the Wethersfield Public Schools, this issue has been and remains a priority; our entire administration and faculty remain committed to the health, safety, and welfare of our students."

The sweep was done with officers and K-9s from the Wethersfield Police Department, with the assistance of teams from several area police departments, including Rocky Hill, Manchester, New Britain, Berlin and East Windsor. Lt. Andrew Power said the help from area departments allowed the sweep to go much more quickly.

Officers and K-9 teams were able to perform the exterior canine sniff on approximately 120 cars in the student parking lot and the entire school within four hours.

Lt. Andrew Power said the few other "alerts" were cases in which a dog may have picked up a scent but found little or nothing. The dogs sense of smell is so sensitive, he said that they would pick up a scent if someone had been in the car the night before with drugs in their pocket.

The operation was conducted in cooperation with the Wethersfield Board of Education.

Kohlhagen said this is the first time a sweep has been done and reiterated that drugs will not be tolerated at school. He did not rule out future sweeps but also said other efforts will help in that proactive effort to not only show the schools won't tolerate drugs but also help students make smart choices.
The name of the arrested student was not released because he is a minor.

[Pat McCotter]

This happened March 26 and these are the only two MSM articles I found on it with Information Liberation site being where I originally found it and they copied the WTNH article.

[J’raxis 270145]

That virtually no drugs were found tells me that the kids have wised up about not bringing their recreational substances into an environment where they have no rights. Good for them.

/Who says public schools don't teach people anything?

[280]

When I was in government school, once a month they would lock all of the students in their respective classrooms for an extended period while they brought in drug dogs to sniff the lockers. We also had to pass through metal detectors every day from 8th grade up. The worst part is that nobody spoke out against it, myself included.

[Pat McCotter]

That is what angered e on this incident. Four police departments and no - not virtually no - but no drugs found, just paraphernalia (rolling papers maybe? a roach clip with no residue?) and no one raised a fuss! Not one word about "What was the cause for this raid? How many students were found with drugs prior to this - on or off campus?"