More schools turning to specially trained canines to fight the war on drugs
By Erin Holmes, Daily Herald Staff Writer She acts like she's the hottest girl around, sashaying through the halls of Prospect High School and demanding attention with her puppy-dog eyes.
She gets it.
Students stop to gawk and grin, halting so suddenly to offer her affectionate pats on her fuzzy head that they create a backup in the hallway.
"She's quite convinced she's cute," says Dean Patricia Tedaldi Monti, holding Dandy's leash as students switch classes.
And Tedaldi Monti is quite convinced this cuddly golden retriever, a dog that holds the power to hand a student an expulsion, is the reason substance abuse violations at Prospect have plummeted.
While some schools turn to police dogs to scout out drugs, Dandy - a breed apart - is getting the job done with a gentle demeanor that puts students at ease (no need to snap into lockdown mode) and an expert nose that can sniff out gunpowder, fireworks, over-the- counter medicines and alcohol as easily as illegal narcotics.
Since she began visiting Prospect last semester, incidents of teens being caught with alcohol or drugs have become "nearly nonexistent," a proud Tedaldi Monti said. "It's just not happening here."
Her presence also has helped make the climate "healthier" at Forest View Alternative School, director Bill Johnson said. That school, based in Arlington Heights, began using Dandy after Prospect found success.
The key, administrators said, is that she is a welcome, constant presence, while police dogs often are once- or twice-a-year deals. She's friendly, but students also know she means business.
"I think the word is out, if you will," Johnson said. "You don't bring in anything that is inappropriate, harmful or illegal."
Dandy doesn't bother with tobacco, since students could pick up that scent just by (legally) being in a smoky restaurant.
But her nose once found a stray cap of a beer bottle at Prospect, and - in a parking-lot sweep - sniffed out a health supplement bearing traces of the stimulant ephedera inside a closed car. That warranted a call to the student's parents. Dandy has also sniffed out other drugs, including marijuana.
During a recent visit, her snout caught wind of an inhaler's albuterol, a medicine used to treat asthma that also can be abused. The inhaler was in a book bag, inside a locker.
"Police dogs can't do that," said Dandy's proud handler, Glenn VadeBonCoeur of Interquest Detection Canines - a Texas-based company that's racked up more than 1,200 school clients nationwide.
Many police dogs, because of the jobs they're usually called to do, often are trained to hunt down only illegal substances.
The scent of an inhaler or alcohol, for instance, "would mean nothing" to a police dog, Mount Prospect Police Chief Richard Eddington said. Dandy, who lives in the Chicago area with her handler, is "focused on a broader panorama of issues that concern both parents and students."
Police dogs also can be, but aren't always, intimidating.
But they're at least free to the schools that use their services for drug sweeps - a far cry from the $300 Prospect officials shell out for each of Dandy's roughly twice-monthly visits.
The money comes from cash from student parking passes.
"It's a question of what gives you more bang for your buck," said VadeBonCoeur, who takes Dandy down the halls of Prospect and makes routine rounds at a growing number of other Chicago-area high schools.
VadeBonCoeur remembers Tedaldi Monti's words when she first invited Dandy over: "We have no more of a problem than any school. We're very average."
"She's not going to accept average," he added.
Since Prospect began using Dandy, she's getting attention from other schools within Northwest Suburban High School District 214. Elk Grove High has tried her out - it now uses a police dog that works similarly to Dandy, officials report - and both Forest View and Vanguard use Dandy regularly. Buffalo Grove High has used police dogs in the past, but is now considering using Dandy.
When she's off-duty, Dandy is more a friend, lapping up a quick drink from the bathroom sink between sweeps of locker banks and the parking lot. She enjoys pats and kisses from the passing teenagers, her tail swooshing across the floors.
When she's working, she's all business. Even when the teens surround her between class bells, she has her nose into everything.
The thought of it irks Ed Yohnka.
A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union, he thinks such sweeps - though admittedly legal - violate teenagers' privacy, and he doesn't like the idea of them being subjected to drug searches of their cars or lockers just because of where they go to class.
"What would parents think if dogs swept through their office on a regular basis?" Yohnka asked. "I wonder what kind of message it sends that (teens) are literally suspects because of who they are, where they are and what age they are."
He admits dogs like Dandy at least minimize the intimidation factor common with police dogs but says the bottom line is that schools could find other ways of addressing drug issues.
"I frankly worry about the notion that our schools are somehow just an adjunct of the police department," he said.
But Prospect senior Chris Miller, who occasionally has spotted Dandy traipsing the halls, said teens don't seem to find her presence intrusive.
"I don't think most kids really mind," he said. "Most really don't have a problem with it."
Plenty of area high schools don't bring in dogs on a regular basis, choosing instead to deal with any suspected drug problems on an individual basis.
So it goes throughout Maine Township High School District 207 and Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211, officials in those systems said.
"We feel like we've got the situation under control," said Tom Peterson, a spokesman for District 211. "There are other awareness things that we do."
Hersey High, a District 214 school in Arlington Heights, likewise turns to other measures, like a recent parent talk on teen substance abuse. That event included testimony from a Hersey student who is struggling while recovering from addiction.
Still, Dandy's success - and her ability to create an anti-drug atmosphere on campus that officials say can't be matched - is turning heads.
"The bottom line is, that adds a whole new dimension" to school drug sweeps, said an interested Jim Caudill, principal at Naperville Central High.
That school, like many others - from Wheeling High to Antioch Community High - brings in police canines several times a year, switching into lockdown mode while the dogs are there. Caudill admits it isn't a perfect system.
Teens wanting to hide drugs could stash them in their pockets or in bags they carry to class, he said. Plus, police dogs - unlike Dandy - typically can't find over-the-counter medicines, one of the fastest growing addiction threats.
In the end, Caudill said, there remains a haunting worry that something pertinent may have been overlooked.
"That's a concern, period," he said. "You could say that about weapons or anything. It would be good to walk (dogs) up and down the rows of a few classrooms. It really would."
In surveys done by Interquest, most teenagers - many of whom are as against drugs as Dandy and VadeBonCouer - give the dogs and handlers a big thumbs-up, the handler said.
Prospect senior Kathryn Barcal gives Dandy a nod for her friendliness; she's seen the dog sitting in the halls on occasion.
But she's not sure her mere presence will solve anything.
"If kids are going to do drugs, they're going to do them," she said. "They're not necessarily going to do them at school, but there are still kids who will do them in their cars or whatever."
Still, police chief Eddington said Dandy's presence conveys to parents and others that the school is focused on making the campus a drug-free, safe zone.
"It makes an impression on kids," Eddington said. And "That's neat to be a part of."
(C) 2010 Chicago Daily Herald. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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