Police State Rules in NJ High Schools
by Jack Duggan
http://www.lewrockwell.com/duggan/duggan12.html
On the morning of Friday, October 12, 2007, Steinert High School in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, was flooded by police with five drug-sniffing dogs accompanied by a prosecutor and school officials. The whole student body was arrested by being detained in various classrooms and forced to wait while the search of their lockers verified that each student was innocent of drug possession. Every locker got searched. And every student was under technical arrest until cleared of drug possession, approaching unlawful imprisonment.
The school sent us a letter home with our son saying it was a "...pre-planned search of student lockers using trained narcotics detections dogs." It continued, "As per our ongoing protocol of ensuring a safe and orderly drug-free environment...this search was a component of our program to deter illegal activity." There was no reasonable suspicion of any drug activity. It seems that this search was itself an illegal activity because it was a warrantless dragnet, pure and simple.
This incident is proof to parents that the government has little common sense when it comes to our children. They teach about human rights, the U.S. Constitution and tolerance, but do not practice what they preach.
Many of the kids are saying that Steinert H.S. teachers, counselors and principal are not about education, just prosecution of the 'War on Drugs.' There are over 1,625 students and guess what percentage of them were discovered to have had drugs or marijuana in their lockers? Zero. Nada, as in not one. For this, the Hamilton Township police and school administration alienated the trust of all 1,625 students, many of whom now feel that students are automatically guilty until proven otherwise. The kids know that they would never do the same thing to their teachers' lockers, nor publicly owned offices of the U.S. Congress, the White House and all federal agencies to weed out all those who seem to be definitely on drugs.
The Hamilton School District and Police Department stand on the point that the students' lockers are public property and thus subject to search at any time. However, how far can a police agency go into warrantless searches of over a thousand people's effects without probable cause? Why must students have no expectation of privacy of their personal effects when given no choice but to use school lockers for their burdensome books, note pads, lunches, clothing and other paraphernalia? And why are other public employees storage spaces not routinely searched while teachers, office clerks and even Congressional representatives are held under lock down?
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this shure sounds like a direct violation of the 4th amendment.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
remember there wasnt a warrant, theywere unlawfuly detained and privacy violated by the school and police.