Trained dogs and handlers work in school systems to detect and even more importantly deter the presence of drugs, alcohol, weapons, and explosives. Both law enforcement and private company dog-and-handler teams perform this job.

School officials decide whether to use drug dogs. In addition, they decide whether to use community law enforcement dogs or to engage a private company. If the local police or sheriff’s departments do not have an available trained detection dog team, the schools won’t have that option. Some court decisions seem to be leaning toward limiting the scope of law enforcement searches in the schools more than the limits placed on work in schools by private companies.

Perhaps the crux of the difference between law enforcement searches and private company searches is the presence of a law enforcement official at the search. When a private company conducts it, findings are turned over to the school to determine what action will be taken. The case could still be turned over to law enforcement, but the primary goal is not to arrest kids. It is to keep the school environment free of dangerous contraband and safer for the kids and teachers.

Breeds

Drug dogs in schools can be any breed, but private companies prefer dogs that don’t appear threatening to kids. It’s desirable for the kids to like the dog, even those kids who don’t do the dangerous things they would be doing if the dog weren’t there.

Because the dogs put in a good day’s work, larger breeds with more stamina such as Labrador and Golden Retrievers are often used. Other friendly breeds like Springer Spaniels, Weimaraners, and similar mixes with the aptitude for the work get chosen too.

The dog for drug detection work is likely to be rather different than the dog chosen to assist a disabled person. Assistance work calls for a dog who can be handled by a person with a disability and fit into a wide variety of situations unobtrusively.

By contrast, the dog working to detect drugs, alcohol, weapons and explosives in schools needs to be a real go-getter. Some good prospects for this work are dogs who have been destructive in homes because they need more mental and physical exercise.

Purpose

A high probability of getting caught serves as a powerful deterrent against human misbehavior. When kids know it’s only a matter of time until the contraband will be discovered, a large percentage will give up trying to smuggle it into school.

This deterrence is safer for everyone than focusing on trying to catch criminals in the act. It also helps teach the kids, which fits the purpose of a school. The program helps kids say no to peers trying to involve them with contraband. Since illegal drugs, alcohol, and weapons are involved in the majority of work-related injuries and are prevalent in schools, dealing with this problem saves injuries and even lives.

Part of the job in a school program is to communicate with parents and school officials, satisfying concerns about how the kids will be treated and how the program will stand up to a legal challenge. Ideally it will be so well accepted that no lawsuits will result.

How it Works

The program is introduced to school authorities in meetings and to students by bringing the dogs to the school. After that, the visits to the school to check for contraband are random, not announced in advance to students.

Typically the dog checks scent around lockers and possibly cars in the parking lot when students are in class. The dog uses a passive alert such as sitting. Since one thing being detected is explosives, a digging or other active response would be dangerous. Another reason for a passive alert is that it’s less intrusive and less likely to cause a court challenge when used directly with people.

When the dog hits on a locker or car, the responsible person is brought to the area, told about the dog’s indication, and given a chance to explain. Then the handler inspects the location, seals any contraband found into an evidence bag, and hands it over to school officials. The school officials decide on any disciplinary action.

The police may have less legal authority to search student belongings than a private company has. It’s up to the courts in the end. Legal opinion at this stage appears to hold that exposing a person’s property that is located in a private place to the sniff of a trained narcotics dog is not a search under the Fourth Amendment.

School authorities may have the authority to search students without a search warrant. It is at the point of searching a student’s person that both the legal conflicts and the conflicts with parents tend to begin. Having students in the classroom rather than the hall or parking lot when lockers and cars are checked reduces the risk that a court might rule against searching lockers or cars.

Training 

Defense attorneys for those accused of possessing contraband in schools are looking closely at the training of detector dogs. Quality teams train regularly with the dogs and document the training as well as the searches they perform.

The dog’s record of successful hits needs to be shown in court to be that of a reliably trained dog and handler, or the attorney may be able to get evidence from the search disallowed. If the dog’s work is reliable, an indication of a find from that dog may become reasonable as probable cause for officials to search the locker, car, or student.

On the other hand, if a dog either has a poor record of reliability or the handler has failed to keep good records, the evidence found in the search that was based on the dog’s indication could be disallowed. Good records are part of a handler’s job, and one thing a school district should look at when considering any company for this work is the quality of their record-keeping.

Different organizations have diverse standards of training and testing for detector dogs. The demand for drug dogs and now particularly for bomb dogs is so high that experts are concerned about dishonest or incompetent people selling improperly trained dogs to government agencies. Other countries are sometimes willing to pay such high prices for trained dogs that there may not be enough good ones available. 

Important Work

Opportunities for careers training dogs are on the rise. Sometimes funding doesn’t quite keep up with what people want and need that dogs are able to do. Private individuals and community service groups often take up the slack to pay expenses. In the case of the school detector and deterrent program, it’s likely to be a contract payment rather than having to buy a dog and employ a handler. That makes funding easier.

We’re seeing more standardization of training for detector dogs. The same reliability issues raised with dogs searching schools are being discussed and worked out with search and rescue dogs and other working teams. The future in the dog training field looks bright. A talented, honest, hard-working dog trainer will surely find plenty of opportunity in this field, especially if those talents include training other handlers.