DHS search yields no offenders

Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 27, 2007

DEMOPOLIS &8212; Another routine canine inspection on Thursday at Demopolis High School yielded no illegal substances or items Dr. Isaac Espy, principal, said Friday.

Espy said during the course of the search, the dog did alert several times, which is not uncommon.

The most recent canine search at the high school on Oct. 9 implicated three students with illegal items. Two students were allowed to do in-school suspension and a third withdrew from school.

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The canine detections are performed as part of a contract with Interquest Detection Canine Inc. based out of Demopolis. The dogs used by Interquest are non-aggressive, and perform what are referred to as passive alerts. If the canine detects any kind of prescription drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco or gunpowder, it will simply sit by the implicated area and look to its trainer to indicate an unauthorized substance has been found.

The canines are taken around random areas at both the middle and the high schools and also random rows in the schools&8217; parking lots. Any time a dog alerts the handler of any kind of substance, officials are authorized to search the area to find what the canine has detected.

Thursday&8217;s search was not a follow-up search to the previous search, Espy said. It was just another randomly scheduled visit by Interquest.