A K-9 training exercise for local law enforcement at Clear Creek-Amana High School resulted in the arrests of two students Wednesday in Tiffin.

The training exercise led to two separate drug investigations in two cars located in the school parking lot, according to a Johnson County Sheriff's Office release.

While carrying out additional searches, sheriff's deputies found one handgun in each of the cars.

Two students, aged 16 and 17, were arrested and transported to the Linn County Juvenile Detention Center in Cedar Rapids.

Both of the students were charged with carrying weapons on school property, a class D felony, according to the release. One of the students faces a charge of possession of a controlled substance, a serious misdemeanor.

Authorities don't believe the cases are connected.

The release says there is no evidence of an imminent threat to the school community.
( Iowa City press citizen )


why doesn't every high school ,middle school do this ?

I'm sure they're just one or two state/local laws away from curing this problem entirely.

And as you noted, until the police do daily search and seizure exercises, drugs and guns are going to be in virtually every school across the country. Of course, that creates quite the manpower issue for the police.

Link to the OP's article:

https://www.press-citizen.com/...students/2512811001/

Can dogs detect guns or ammo? I think not, the article implies they smelled drugs and a search led to the guns.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Link to the OP's article:

https://www.press-citizen.com/...students/2512811001/

Can dogs detect guns or ammo? I think not, the article implies they smelled drugs and a search led to the guns.

Connecticut State Police are currently training K9s to detect guns.

quote:

Originally posted by cgode:

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Link to the OP's article:

https://www.press-citizen.com/...students/2512811001/

Can dogs detect guns or ammo? I think not, the article implies they smelled drugs and a search led to the guns.

Connecticut State Police are currently training K9s to detect guns.

Hoppes #9! Hell, that stuff smells so good, even I can detect guns.

Or Ballistol. Gun Scrubber is fragrant, too.

quote:

Originally posted by cgode:

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Link to the OP's article:

https://www.press-citizen.com/...students/2512811001/

Can dogs detect guns or ammo? I think not, the article implies they smelled drugs and a search led to the guns.

Connecticut State Police are currently training K9s to detect guns.

I would like to know more. With all the products one can use, or not use, to clean firearms, I have to wonder how a dog detects a gun by smell. Exactly what is it they're being trained to hit on? Because for years, I used automotive white lithium grease in my carry guns, and I can't even estimate how many people I've seen saying they use plain automotive motor oil over the years. Dog's gonna smell that through a car? What smell could possibly emanate from all firearms that this is something they can train dogs to search for? I'm sure Pookie down on the corner keeps his Glock fotay slide rails lubed with Slide Glide.

So what?
We used to take our guns to school all the time.
We'd go hunting before and after school and if you were on the shooting team you would keep your 22 rifle in your locker.

Whatever happened to probable cause?

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Whatever happened to probable cause?

It's for school safety. Or something like that.

They used to tell us the same shit in highschool when they would do the random lockdowns and have the local K9 unit come in and search every locker in the school a few times every semester. Town of 13K people. They busted the stoners from a rotating cast after finding a bit of weed. This was in the late 90's, so just before all the "school shooting" hysteria started really ramping up.

Somebody never had any fun while attending public school.

"why doesn't every high school ,middle school do this ?"

Are you serious? Where are you from?

quote:

Whatever happened to probable cause?

Exactly.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by cgode:

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Link to the OP's article:

https://www.press-citizen.com/...students/2512811001/

Can dogs detect guns or ammo? I think not, the article implies they smelled drugs and a search led to the guns.

Connecticut State Police are currently training K9s to detect guns.

I would like to know more. With all the products one can use, or not use, to clean firearms, I have to wonder how a dog detects a gun by smell. Exactly what is it they're being trained to hit on? Because for years, I used automotive white lithium grease in my carry guns, and I can't even estimate how many people I've seen saying they use plain automotive motor oil over the years. Dog's gonna smell that through a car? What smell could possibly emanate from all firearms that this is something they can train dogs to search for? I'm sure Pookie down on the corner keeps his Glock fotay slide rails lubed with Slide Glide.

Generally they are trained to smell the powder used to make the ammo usually explosive detecting dogs.
Of course like anything this is not a full proof method especially if the gun has not been recently fired.

quote:

Originally posted by VonFatman:
"why doesn't every high school ,middle school do this ?"

Are you serious? Where are you from?

quote:

Whatever happened to probable cause?

Exactly.

Not sure of many that don’t I graduated dang near 18 years ago and dogs running the locker areas and parking lots was/is not uncommon.

Reasonable suspicion is not needed to run the dog in a public place.
The dog hits on the vehicle that is probable cause for the search.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Whatever happened to probable cause?

There's not enough information in the brief article to decide if there's an issue with an unconstitutional search here.

But here are some things to consider:

Open air dog sniffs around vehicles in public areas, or where the drug dogs otherwise have permission to be, are not considered searches under the constitution, and therefore do not require probable cause. A positive hit from a trained drug dog from outside the vehicle can then be used as probable cause for a search of the interior of the vehicle. This was argued all the way up to the US Supreme Court in 2013's Florida v. Harris, where it was upheld.

In addition, students on a school campus have a diminished expectation of privacy. And the school, operating in their in loco parentis capacity as a form of parent for their students, has the ability to conduct certain reasonable searches of students as well as their backpacks, lockers, vehicles on school property, etc., based on reasonable suspicion (a lower threshold than probable cause). This was argued all the way up to the US Supreme Court in 1985's New Jersey vs. TLO, where it was upheld.

In addition, many/most schools require parking passes for student vehicles these days, and part of getting a school parking pass often entails the signing of search consent waiver for that vehicle.


Any or all of the above factors, as well as others, could have come into play here, but there's no way to know without more info.

That's bullshit and you know it. "Oh, poochie just happens to be there and just happens to sniff out something."

Who do you think you're fooling? You know what you can do with your technicalities. This kind of thing is tantamount to ignoring the Bill of Rights and it's one of the reasons that people distrust the police.

Running a dog around the exterior of the vehicle when said vehicle is parked in a place the dog and handler can legally be is no more illegal than you or I looking in the windows or, technically, smelling it ourselves. There are decades of established precedent on this in every state.

Searching the car following three establishment of probable cause (and a positive dog alert satisfies that requirement) is also clearly established as legal (under the federal case United States v. Carroll and hundreds of derivatives and most recent Iowa case State v. Storm).

Nobody is charting a new course here.

Techicalities and legal mumbo jumbo, no matter what the police can get away with. That's right, I said 'get away with'. You'd have a better chance of convincing me that the moon is made of green cheese than you would of convincing me that this shit is kosher.

Don't talk to me about what the police can do via technicalities. Talk to me about police not fucking with citizens. A car, sitting in a parking lot, which happens to contain contraband, yet, that's all there is- no actual, probable cause. Just happening to run the dog past such a car? That's bullshit.

Anyone who reads this board on a regular basis knows that I support law enforcement, but this kind of thing is slimy bullshit and it serves to create bad feelings of the public towards the police. Do you believe in the Bill of Rights, or not? There's no halfway. Either you do, or you don't believe in it. Which is it? I support law enforcement, but first and foremost, I believe in the Constitution of the United States. Don't fuck with my rights, no matter what kind of loophole you have.

Now, put the icing on the cake with "Well, if you're not doing anything illegal, you have nothing to worry about."

I remember growing up and some of the Junior & Seniors trucks had guns racks in the window with <GASP> shotguns for bird hunting after school.

And the sight of teens walking down the road with shotguns over their shoulders was common and unremarkable.

Nowadays it would be a SWAT Team callout.

What expectation of privacy is there in a high school parking lot? I'm guessing none.

I think it's pretty much settled law that LE can run a dog around anything out in public, and a hit then constitutes probable cause.