Search of School Lockers - Safety Precaution or Invasion of Privacy?

[Azn]

Well, anything can be a weapon. A baseball bat is a popular choice. Guns and Knives are too obvious.

Still it would be better to target certain students who've been caught smoking/leaving class/ late to class often. Etc.

A hit list of sorts.

Ahh... but I feel like it's a bit like discrimination, don't you think?
I feel like it's Airport Security, when they do the random checks on Muslim people.
It's just a thought

[Sci_Girl]

They decide to keep it to themselves or blackmails Jake regarding possession of illegal contraband.

So in your scenario it is all on the cops. The cops are going to ruin some kids day at school because they have nothing better to do? The cops are not coming to keep the school safe they are coming to be a big waste of time since cops are just meanies like that? Please help me understand how this scenario is a likely one when dealing with underage children whom are not going to be charged harshly even if they have substance in their lockers. What good is it to put a kid who is not guilty of the crime through all this when that kid is not going to serve much time or even pay much of a fine for their actions?


So it is a waste of time for persons to search it, okay fine I could see that if the school was of absolute great size and there was only a small handful of people searching lockers. But I am failing to see how a dog is an ineffective use of time in a thing like random searches. With a sense of smell several thousand times better than our own they can clear a school in less time it takes to finish a class. Random searches are what is needed. No time to prep, no time to react, no time to make up a story, you are not informed of the searches until someone mentions they hear a dog in the halls or you actively see a cop searching out a locker. For those guilty the random searches are the last thing they want and if there are enough random searches then maybe they should leave their goodies at home so that no worry of being caught ever crosses their mind.

As for the more likely students to be searched, I absolutely believe they should be. They can whine about being picked on and all that but the fact of the matter will remain that if a child has been suspended for drug use, or fined, or caught whatever and they have a reputation for acting like that they cannot be surprised that they will be targeted on less random searches. If a child does not want the cops or the school watching, labeling, or targeting them then maybe they should stop their actions or be less obvious about those actions and leave their usage at home in their parents basement or away from the peering eyes of those who do not want illegal substances around.

[Evelsaint]

So in your scenario it is all on the cops. The cops are going to ruin some kids day at school because they have nothing better to do? The cops are not coming to keep the school safe they are coming to be a big waste of time since cops are just meanies like that? Please help me understand how this scenario is a likely one when dealing with underage children whom are not going to be charged harshly even if they have substance in their lockers. What good is it to put a kid who is not guilty of the crime through all this when that kid is not going to serve much time or even pay much of a fine for their actions?


So it is a waste of time for persons to search it, okay fine I could see that if the school was of absolute great size and there was only a small handful of people searching lockers. But I am failing to see how a dog is an ineffective use of time in a thing like random searches. With a sense of smell several thousand times better than our own they can clear a school in less time it takes to finish a class. Random searches are what is needed. No time to prep, no time to react, no time to make up a story, you are not informed of the searches until someone mentions they hear a dog in the halls or you actively see a cop searching out a locker. For those guilty the random searches are the last thing they want and if there are enough random searches then maybe they should leave their goodies at home so that no worry of being caught ever crosses their mind.

As for the more likely students to be searched, I absolutely believe they should be. They can whine about being picked on and all that but the fact of the matter will remain that if a child has been suspended for drug use, or fined, or caught whatever and they have a reputation for acting like that they cannot be surprised that they will be targeted on less random searches. If a child does not want the cops or the school watching, labeling, or targeting them then maybe they should stop their actions or be less obvious about those actions and leave their usage at home in their parents basement or away from the peering eyes of those who do not want illegal substances around.
Security officer does not equate to an cop.

A cop would not be called in to do a locker search unless there is reasonable proof that there is a weapon or a large amount of drugs on the premise.

Most schools tend to take a more "discrete" method of handling the situation, suspension, getting kicked out of school. The last thing they want or need is bad press.

[Sci_Girl]

Ok so switch cop for "security officer" and same scenario. That officer is now just in it to ruin some underage child's day just cause? I do not see that happening considering the very low level of punishment for that kid. And the dogs do come into schools and they are handled by the trained cops, they are not as frequent to come in but they do.

[Azn]

Most schools have at least one security guard... These security guards mostly are retired police officers. I don't think they would have a reason to steal anything from a students locker, because if caught, they would leave their job and integrity.

[Victoria]

I think they have the right to go through your locker. It THEIR property and they do have every right to go through it. If there are things in there that are illegal or not allowed in school, well that is your fault for not leaving them at home. You don't know if Johnny if being bullied by Nick after school, and Johnny plans to bring a gun to school because he's got 3rd period with him or whatever. Johnny could have put the gun in his locker and then offed Nick in class and the becomes spooked and starts shooting stray bullets and kills someone else. If they did locker checks, that scenario could have been prevented. Even though I am neutral about drugs and I can't judge because I do do them, if they go through your locker and bust you for drugs, i think its fair that you get in trouble. It's not important enough to bring onto a campus that you couldn't leave it at home.

One of the guards/teacher takes something from the locker, it's hard to pinpoint who took the stuff. This could easily turn into a situation where the boy cries wolf.
A student that hates the teacher makes up a story saying his stuff is missing and his friends back his story. It becomes a shit storm.

I have to disagree with this, sorry. But it's as simple enough to make an announcement if they start doing locker checks and issue out a paper where they sign saying they are not held responsible if anything goes missing in anyones locker, not that they would steal it, but so no one does cry wolf incase a student trys to lie and say something was stolen when it wasnt.
To avoid that happening, just dont bring expensive things to school or dont leave it in your locker? Its SCHOOL, not show and tell or bring the expensive things mommy and daddy bought to show it off. If you have anything expensive, then keep it on you or leave it at home. I used my locker for my books, which is what i believe they were made for.

First, you have to take into account how many students there are in school. Some schools have over 1000+ students in one grade. Searching so many lockers is not going to be easy. Also, take this possibility into account.

Jake has weed in his locker, the teacher or security officer searching the locker, finds it.

They decide to keep it to themselves or blackmails Jake regarding possession of illegal contraband.

Jake can't tip off the authorities without getting into trouble himself.

Mmkay. Have a few police officers there while the search is going on with their k9 dogs to help make the search for drugs easier. Therefore finding drugs wont be hard & now you have police officers there. I don't think distributing out a few police to the schools for an hour or so would hurt, what else would they be doing? Sitting in their police car eating donuts and sipping coffee while they hide so they can catch people speeding over 5 mph?

Sure random locker checks work as well, but what if that random day was just one day behind and there was a bomb in there ( just an example, some people are nuts to do that if they are pushed enough )and it blew up. I personally think that would suck. Daily locker checks would prevent that from happening.

[Mike]

Yes, they should, but they shouldn't warn students about it.
Many students have stuff in their lockers that they shouldn't have, there are people in school whom sell drugs in school grounds.
Students hide a lot of stuff on there lockers to show off to other people; my friend once brought in his father's gun to school, my friend sells weed in school.
In the other hand it is kind of Invasion of Privacy, but sometimes it's for the safety of all, it may prevent many things from happening. But the shouldn't go through people's privacy as in reading student's diaries, going through people's phones/texts and stuff like that.

[Evelsaint]

Yes, they should, but they shouldn't warn students about it.
Many students have stuff in their lockers that they shouldn't have, there are people in school whom sell drugs in school grounds.
Students hide a lot of stuff on there lockers to show off to other people; my friend once brought in his father's gun to school, my friend sells weed in school.
In the other hand it is kind of Invasion of Privacy, but sometimes it's for the safety of all, it may prevent many things from happening. But the shouldn't go through people's privacy as in reading student's diaries, going through people's phones/texts and stuff like that.

Mike is right about the last part, what I failed to mention earlier is that certain information can be taken without notice. Phone numbers/ personal info written down.

However, most kids keep their cellphones on them so I neglected to mention it.

Example:bringing limited edition card collection to school, a card can be taken without someone noticing and by the time they realize it, it will be too late.

Things like these can be prevented.

Also, most school security are NOT retired cops. That is utterly laughable.

[Sci_Girl]

What do cards have to do with random searches by schools? Why would a kid bring a limited edition expensive card to school in the first place? You sell that stuff on ebay in your own home not at school on the playground. If a kid is worried about their expensive personal items keep it at home where you know it will not be muddled with. You can also be mugged going to school holding those cards, that is possible so lets not rule that out. These are hyper exaggerated examples, they are not factored in simply because "it could happen", they are not factored in because there is so little point to factor it in. What does a 60 year old grey haired retired officer of the law (despite what any younger child may say about his abilities) have to do with getting in the way of some high school or younger child? He is there to protect the common good, not cause a headache for ol' pot head John. The list of hyper exaggerations can go on and on, it does not mean it should literally be taken into account if there is no reason to believe it would. If a security officer has a background of having sticky fingers he is already going to be fired, but the average Joe who is just wanting to make the schools a safer place for the rest of the young ones is not there to be a vigilante. We are talking about children in school, high school kids learning their x + x = x equations and how to titrate liquids in chem labs. It is not worth messing up a kids day, who is there to learn, if there is no reason to. And if that child has nothing to worry about then they can keep learning their material while the officers or whomever search around any and all lockers. If you bring disallowed items to school then they should be willing to accept the consequences for making that poor decision in the first place.

[Evelsaint]

You are right my friend but younger kids tend to be idiots.

I've seen people bring electronics and other items to school to show off, or they keep items that may hold a certain appeal to it. yes it's retarded of them and a bad judgement choice but they do it anyway. I think school wide or grade wide searches are ineffective and a waste of time.

My point is these situations can be avoided if the security officers are forced to target certain lockers. The margin of error and possibility of the situation goes down drastically. My examples might not have been the best ones but random locker checks won't amount to much beside student discontent.

Anotehr example, girl with jewlery, leaves it in the locker for gym or dance practice, etc.

Different scenarios. Wallets being left in lockers, CC numbers being stolen.

People exploit.

I mean, what are we doing here?

The idea is the security officers aren't always going to get caught. by decreasing the numbers of lockers search, you cut down the possibility of such events happening.

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Originally Posted by Evelsaint
Well, anything can be a weapon. A baseball bat is a popular choice. Guns and Knives are too obvious.

Still it would be better to target certain students who've been caught smoking/leaving class/ late to class often. Etc.

A hit list of sorts.
Ahh... but I feel like it's a bit like discrimination, don't you think?
I feel like it's Airport Security, when they do the random checks on Muslim people.
It's just a thought

This is reinforcing your "random" locker check theory. People who are repeatably late to class, cut class, absent, noted for bullying and other incidents will be compiled into a list and randomly selected to have their lockers checked. They would be the ones who are selected because there is a higher possibility of them actually having illegal contraband.

It's not discrimination if they have a record for smoking and cutting class. Kids used to bring alcohol to school in water bottles.

Really?