HANCOCK COUNTY — Spike, a K-9 officer with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department focused in on the backpacks sitting in a row along the floor at Eastern Hancock High School. His job, put his highly trained nose to good use and sniff the bags, then give an alert sign if he smells the presence of illegal drugs.
The K-9 drug sniff is one of many proactive deterrents law enforcement and administrators with area school district use as part of an ongoing effort to keep teenagers from bringing drugs onto campuses and into the classrooms.
Law enforcement visit each of the county high schools as well as some of the junior high and middle schools once a month throughout the school year in search of illegal drugs.
“It’s more of a community service thing we’re doing here and we like it because the schools want us here,” Spike’s handler, Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Chapman said.
The surprise visits are designed to mostly target marijuana, vaping devices or things like gummies and other candies laced with THC, which has become increasingly potent, addicting and dangerous, officials say.
Spike and Chapman, along with New Palestine Police Department officer Tyler Batton and his K-9, Axe, took their time and walked up and down the halls of Eastern Hancock High School recently. They let the dogs inspect each student backpack placed into the hallway, and they sniffed several lockers.
“If it’s marijuana, a gummy, a brownie and it’s got THC in it, the dogs will find it,” Chapman said.
Eastern Hancock Principal Adam Barton watched over the most recent visit and saw Spike make at least one “alert hit” when he continually pawed and then sat beside the backpack in question.
“This is a small thing, but in our view it’s just another reason for kids to say ‘no’ to drugs,” Barton said.
Barton noted it’s a great feeling when the search is complete and the officers have not been alerted to illegal drugs in the school. He, like other administrators, say it’s a positive thing having a relationship with law enforcement to detour drug use among teens.
“We want the kids to know their stuff is going to get looked at, and we have expectations that everything is going to come up clean,” Barton said. “If a kid is on the fence about bringing something to school, things like this will hopefully make them think twice about doing something silly.”
If officers get a hit on a bag, the bag is immediately taken to the principal’s office and searched. If drugs are found, the school’s resource officer steps in and files an official report. That includes contacting parents and juvenile officials where students are held accountable for a drug possession.
“Getting a hit is pretty rare,” Chapman said.
So far this year, the schools they’ve visited at Mt. Vernon and Eastern Hancock have returned only the one hit.
On Monday, Oct. 31, officials with the New Palestine Police Department were called to New Palestine High School to investigate a report of a juvenile found in the restroom with a THC vape pen.
District policy notes the student is subject to a 10-day suspension as well as a recommendation for expulsion for the remainder of the semester and next semester. There are also options for educational counseling, the policy said. District officials say it will be up to the officer on the scene and the prosecutor as to if charges are filed. A second offense will result in expulsion.
It’s because of incidents like the one mentioned above that principal Jim Voelz said it’s a good thing district officials also work with the HCSD K-9 unit to conduct random drug sniffs at Southern Hancock schools.
“We don’t put out a schedule or anything alerting anybody, but we know a visit is coming periodically,” Voelz said. “Sometimes it’s really thorough and other times it’s pretty quick, but it’s a deterrent for sure because kids know at any point dogs can be in our hallways.”
Dave Merica, the assistant director of operations at Mt. Vernon High School, is on board with the random drug sniffs and said if one child is doing drugs in the county it is one too many.
Mt. Vernon allows for the random searches, random drug screens and random dog sniff searches because they feel it could help detour students from using drugs and bringing them to schools.
“If drugs of any kind are found, law enforcement completes a thorough investigation, parents are notified and punitive consequences follow at school,” Merica said. “Along with our staff, our law enforcement tries to build relationships with students so they can help influence students to make the right decisions.”
Merica noted the drug sniffs are integral in keeping schools safe, and officials with Mt. Vernon greatly appreciate the partnerships they have with each of their law enforcement agencies.
The drug sniffs by the dogs are scheduled events the officers set up with school administrators each month, but the students don’t know when the visits will occur.
Neighborhoods Against Substance Abuse, Inc. Executive Director Timothy Retherford said county law enforcement and administrators do a good job of keeping drugs out of area schools.
“You’d be remiss to say drugs are not there, but our local officials have great partnerships and put in a concerted effort to make sure those substances stay out of county school buildings,” Retherford said.
Retherford works with law enforcement and student representatives — a NASA Youth Council from each of the county’s four school districts — knowing a peer influence carries a stronger message against drug use than words coming from adults.
“We work a lot on the prevention end when it comes to drugs and alcohol,” Retherford said. “We try to raise the kids’ awareness level of the dangers, and our school reps from each high school meet with us on a monthly basis to work on projects and messages.”
Retherford noted most teen substance abuse issues are either vaping-, marijuana- or alcohol-related and that they are not seeing issues with serious, hardcore drugs among teens in the county. Still, Retherford said marijuana today is not the marijuana of old and can be laced with dangerously high levels of THC as well as fentanyl making marijuana just as dangerous as other drugs.
“Anytime a person buys something off the streets, you just don’t know what you’re getting, and kids need to know how dangerous that is,” Retherford said.
Rutherford’s message to teens is to be aware of how dangerous smoking marijuana grown in labs is due to the high levels of THC — usually around 30% compared to a 3 to 4% THC level like in years past.
“One of the other big things is the oils and waxes which can have as much as 90% THC levels,” Retherford said. “It’s a significant issue with younger people who can overdose on THC because of the levels.”
He fears the higher levels of THC in marijuana, oils, and laced candies is creating a whole new problem for society with abnormal, uncontrollable behavior among teens and even kids.
“You can’t tell the difference between a gummy and one laced with THC and that’s dangerous because kids don’t read bags even if it’s a legalized, marijuana-laced gummy,” Retherford said. “With those higher levels of THC, it can be deadly.”
Retherford, who has been with NASA for 13 years now also noted that over-the-counter drugs, which are in most households, can also be dangerous because of access, and parents need to keep that in mind.
“We try to educate on that as well because we know access drives usage rates for teenagers,” Retherford said.
