The LaSalle Parish Sheriff’s Office executed unannounced searches of parish junior high and high schools last week with Chief Narcotic Detective Todd Roark noting that no illegal substances were discovered in any of the schools.
Around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, September 3, LPSO’s three canine units and two from the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office arrived at Jena Junior High School and the school was immediately placed on lockdown, to prevent any students from roaming the grounds or potentially getting rid of any illegal substance.
“We then took our narcotic detection dogs throughout the schools and had students stand in the hallway while the dogs performed their work with their noses, sniffing backpacks and other items that the students were required to leave in the classroom,” the detective said. “The process was repeated in multiple randomly selected classrooms and then the entire process was repeated at Jena High School, LaSalle Junior High School and LaSalle High School.”
While the dogs did alert to some various items throughout the day, including backpacks and clothing apparel, no narcotics were located when a hand-search was conducted.
“This could have been for a lot of different reasons,” LPSO K-9 Deputy Jordy Mayo noted. “If they have been around someone with illegal drugs or using illegal drugs, then that odor would have gotten into those items, and they would certainly be detected by our dogs. It’s sad, but some of our students do not have the best homelife and drug use is common in their homes.”
The deputies were not so naïve as to believe that not one single student in the entire parish are not using some illegal substance, but on this day, during this random search, no illegal substances were discovered.
Along with backpacks and classrooms, the dogs sniffed their way through hallway lockers and even vehicles at the high schools. At Jena High, even the main office and administrative offices were searched.
“We appreciate our school system and the great working relationship we have with everyone from the central office to the individual schools,” LaSalle Sheriff Lane Windham said. “We are all working towards the same thing, which is a safe environment for our students, which is why this surprise narcotic search was conducted.”
