Police Say Drug Sweeps in Grosse Pointe Schools Combat Existing Problem

This week, a woman turned marijuana and related paraphernalia into explaining it belonged to her daughter who is a student. The mother wanted to rid her home of the drug and gave police the name of another student she suspects is her daughter's dealer.

Last week, began investigating the burglary of a Touraine Road home where officers found drugs, cash, paraphernalia and cigarettes under the bed of a 16-year-old resident.

Early in the school year, a student reported to Grosse Pointe Woods police that she was being harassed by another student with whom she used to be friends. Their friendship ended after the other girl began drinking and doing drugs, she said. 

At a minimum, drug use is not unheard of among Pointes high school students. Grosse Pointe police say their sweeps of the high schools are meant to deter student drug use and eliminate the presence of drugs from schools.

Teen drug use

Drug use among teenagers is on the rise nationally, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The 2010 study, which has been done annually since 1975, shows an increase in daily marijuana use by 8th, 10th, and 12th graders from the prior year. The study also shows an increase in illicit drug use for the same student populations. 

Grosse Pointe Farms Public Safety Director Dan Jensen said that locally there has been an increase in the use of brown heroin, which he describes as highly addictive. The drug was popular years ago and is making a resurgence. Fewer than a dozen cases have sprouted up, some of which have involved high school students, Jensen said.

The best information about drugs in high schools is from the students or staff, he said. While heroin "dropped off the map for a while," he believes the availability has increased and therefore the use of it is increasing, and it's cheap, he said.

High schoolers using drugs isn't a new problem nor is it an epidemic in Grosse Pointe, Jensen said, but it does exist. He said, "the vast majority of crimes we are solving are drug related."

School sweeps

Nearly a year ago, officers from the Pointes performed their first drug sweep at Grosse Pointe South. Another was performed in November at Grosse Pointe North, and, most recently, one was performed at South in March. 

The sweeps are a joint effort by school and police officials to combat drugs, representatives from both sides say. The unannounced sweeps are intended to deter the presence of drugs in the schools, Grosse Pointe Farms Deputy Public Safety Director John Hutchins said. 

Additionally, the sweeps offer police officers  training opportunity. The more local police know about the layout of the buildings the better in the event of an emergency, school district spokeswoman Rebecca Fannon said. 

"We use these as a teachable moment—connecting students with resources should they need help, discussing the ramifications of using drugs, and encouraging students to make healthy life choices," Fannon said, noting the sweeps encourage a safe and drug-free school environment.

While the practice has been going on in other districts across the country for years, it is fairly new to the Pointes. City officer Mike Almeranti said he's done dozens of sweeps in the Detroit metro area in the more than five years he's had his K-9 partner, Raleigh. 

The Michigan Department of Education does not track such information, but schools could apply to use grant monies from the Michigan Safe Schools initiative to pay private companies for such searches.

Terry Foley, owner of K-9 Academy Training Facility in Wayne, MI, where Raleigh and 54 other K-9 officers and their handlers are trained, said there are between 25 to 30 schools districts in the metro area that do random school drug sweeps. Most do two per school year whereas Detroit Public Schools do hundreds of mini-sweeps in sections of schools as necessary, he said.

Almeranti and Raleigh have helped with sweeps in St. Clair Shores, Harper Woods, Roseville, Lincoln Park, Trenton, Woodhaven and Canton to name a few. In his experience, it's more rare that schools are not doing sweeps, he said. 

Almeranti first approached the Grosse Pointe Schools about the sweeps after he got Raleigh, he said. The district declined his offer until last year, when school officials contacted the police departments, several police officials said. 

The sweeps send the message that the schools are in charge, Almeranti said. The K-9 officers walk the hallways of the schools sniffing the lockers and they walk the parking lots sniffing the cars, he said.

The more K-9 officers, the faster the sweep can be completed, Almeranti said, noting how the students are in lockdown mode until the sweep is finished.

Part of the training K-9 officers and their handlers receive specific to school sweeps is to disrupt the school day as little as possible. The officers have minimal contact with the students and school officials are left to deal with the results of the search, Foley said.

Jensen described all of the sweeps in the Grosse Pointe high schools thus far as a success. Two sweeps uncovered a minor amount of marijuana.

The K-9 officers alerted their human partners of drug scents multiple times. Each alert doesn't necessarily result in the discovery of actual drugs, as the scents can linger for days by being absorbed into fabric. This means if a student was in a car with another student who was smoking marijuana, the student who was not smoking it could still have the scent in their coat for days, for example, Jensen and Almeranti said.

Parents speak on the sweeps

Dozens of parents randomly stopped by Patch at sporting events and around town expressed their support for the sweeps. They echoed the same message: let officials do what is necessary to keep drugs out of the schools, and let the sweeps send a message that drugs will not be tolerated in the schools. . 

The sweeps however, have created some stir. Local attorney Gary Wilson filed a lawsuit in Wayne Circuit Court that has since been dismissed at his client's request. 

The lawsuit stemmed from a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the department in which Wilson requested specific information about the officers and their K-9 partners performing the sweep at North. His clients were parents of a North student who was questioned during the sweep after a K-9 officer alerted his human partner of a drug scent. The case was dismissed at their request out of fear of retaliation against their daughter, Wilson said.

Wilson also sent a letter with a Freedom of Information Act request to the school district and Superintendent C. Suzanne Klein following the most recent sweep at Grosse Pointe South High School. In an ad in a local newspaper and a meeting with officials, Wilson expressed his disappointment that the district allowed another sweep without first reviewing its own policies. 

Nevertheless, police say the sweeps will continue as long as the school wants them. 

"I am happy about the drug sweeps at Grosse Pointe South. I think anything to keep our kids safe," South parent Debbie Caputo said. "If people are using drugs I think it's a good idea to find out who is and to keep it out of the schools."