AUBURN — Auburn police Cpl. Kris Boucher introduced a drug-sniffing German shepherd to the School Committee on Wednesday night.

“This is Dutch,” Boucher said. He demonstrated how Dutch sniffs for drugs, which soon will be done at Edward Little High School and other schools.

Random drug searches will begin this fall, Superintendent Katy Grondin said, but not until high school students have been shown a demonstration of a search, and after students offer suggestions to keep their schools drug-free. “We want this to be student-led,” she said.

During the demonstration, Boucher led the dog around the Council Chambers in Auburn Hall.

“It’s a passive alert,” Boucher said. When Dutch smells drugs, he stops and sits.

Dutch went from chair to chair behind the council desks, sniffing and quickly moving on. When he came to Auburn School Business Manager Jude Cyr’s chair, Dutch stopped. He sniffed and sniffed, then he sat.

Dutch found drugs.

Boucher apologized to Cyr, saying he had planted drugs on Cyr’s chair as part of the demonstration. That drew some laughter.

“Good boy,” Boucher said to Dutch, rewarding him with a treat.

Grondin said the idea for drug searches came after a student reported there were drugs in schools.

“The first time the dogs come through it will be announced,” Grondin said. “Then we will do unannounced. We don’t want this to be, ‘We’re trying to catch you,’ and, ‘Got you.’”

School Committee student representative Jake Bazinet said he approved of the approach to include students so teens don’t feel like “we’re the enemy. It’s important to let students know our schools are drug-free and it’s not OK to bring drugs to school.”

Deputy Chief Jason Moen of the Auburn Police Department said the purpose of searches is to deter students from bringing drugs to school. During the searches, typically four to six police dogs are brought from several departments, including Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Cumberland County and Bath.

The searches usually take about 15 minutes. They can happen in a number of ways, police said. Some schools have fire-alarm drills during which students leave the building and their backpacks stay behind while the dogs sniff.

Other searches involve students staying in their classrooms in a lockdown mode.

“We’ll go in,” Boucher said. “We’ll assign each dog a hallway. Let them zip through the hallway, which takes five to 10 minutes. Then we’re out of there.”

The searches do not involve dogs entering classrooms or any dog-student contact, Boucher said. “I’ve never been to a school where we search students.”

Committee Chairman Larry Pelletier said Auburn Middle School and the high school should be included in random drug searches.

Answering questions about the police dog from School Committee member Bonnie Hayes, Boucher said Dutch belongs to the department but lives with him. “He’s 5. I’ve had him since he was 1 year old.”

Edward Little High School Principal Jimmy Miller said in the next few weeks the searches will be planned by faculty and students.

“We’ll sit down with them and say, ‘This is our plan,'” he said. “How do we roll out the first one? Where do you think we should search?” Often students come up with stricter expectations than adults, Miller said.

The searches will also help police train the dogs and show students how the community works together, he said.

Last year, random drug searches with police dogs began at Lewiston High School after Superintendent Bill Webster said more students were found bringing marijuana to school.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

Police begin day program for suspended students

AUBURN — Police will partner with school administrators and begin a new in-house suspension program aimed at improving student behavior, and reducing school suspensions and juvenile crime, Chief Phillip Crowell said Wednesday.

Meeting with Auburn School Committee members, Crowell said the Police Department has received a $20,000 grant to start a pilot program for suspended students to attend the PAL (Police Activity League) drop-in center, an after-school program on Chestnut Street.

During the day, suspended students will receive counseling on the behavior that got them kicked out of school, while getting help with their school work from local college students.

Auburn students last year were suspended for a total of about 500 days, which involved more than 100 students, Edward Little High School Principal Jimmy Miller said.

Reasons for suspensions included fighting, drugs or alcohol, bullying or harassment, swearing or being out of control in class, Miller said.

When students are suspended, they’re home or on the streets, sometimes doing things they shouldn’t be, the police chief said. “That’s where we see daytime burglaries, crimes and other social issues.”

In an effort to change that behavior, PAL Coordinator T.J. Abacha will work with suspended students to help them learn how to make better choices in school. The goal is to reduce the number of suspensions. There will be a police presence at the PAL center, Crowell said.

Crowell is working with Bates, Kaplan and Central Maine Community colleges to recruit student tutors.

The program will include follow-ups. After students have completed their suspensions and are back in school, people in the program would check in on them to see how their work plan is helping.

Students are to be transported from Edward Little to the PAL Center, Crowell said. Students cannot participate in the program without their parents’ permission, Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin said.

The program has begun on a small scale. Crowell said Wednesday the PAL Center is working with one student.

Similar programs across the country have reduced school suspensions, Crowell said.