Attorney, Resident Voices Opinion on Drug Sweeps in Schools

Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Raids Are Not Right for Our High Schools or Our Community 

I write this as a K-12 alum of our schools, father of fifth-generation Grosse Pointe children who are students in our schools, and as an attorney now very aware of the danger of ceding control of our schools to law enforcement “training sessions.”  I’m a former Assistant Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney with a B.A. from the MSU School of Criminal Justice, focused on Police/Community Relations. The late Dr. Louis Radelet, my mentor, professor and faculty advisor, was the founder of the National Center on Police and Community Relations.  I’ve been in private practice in Grosse Pointe for 20 years, and I know firsthand the damage that police secrecy, bad attitudes and outright misconduct have on community support and respect for law enforcement.

My law partner, Randall Cain, is a retired Grosse Pointe Park lieutenant with 28 years in law enforcement, also a K-12 alum, and father of fourth-generation daughters who graduated from South. Please consider our backgrounds as you read on.  

It’s difficult to convey my disappointment that Grosse Pointe Public Schools made the decision to allow yet another drug raid in our high schools without first ensuring that policies are in place to protect our children.

At our request, Superintendent C. Suzanne Klein, Asst. Superintendent Chris Fenton, Grosse Pointe South Principal Al Diver, and (by teleconference) Grosse Pointe North Principal Tim Bearden met at our offices Feb. 3 to discuss our concerns and those of our clients. We had questions about the Nov. 11 raid at North High School, ostensibly led by the Grosse Pointe Woods Department of Public Safety. We asked for copies of the policies and procedures that govern drug raids, and were told that they would be sent to us. We have not received them.

At the meeting in February, Mr. Cain and I raised many questions about the raids, and in particular, the treatment of a North Student at the hands of a Saginaw K9 officer, who repeatedly called a North student a “liar” and demanded to know “where are the drugs?” after his dog “alerted” on the student’s car. The search failed to turn up any contraband.

Saginaw? Yes, Saginaw. The City of Grosse Pointe has the only K9 dog in the Grosse Pointes, so police personnel from all over the state were called in to participate in the North raid (and the two raids at South.) They call these “training sessions.” Although Mr. Bearden said that “13 to 15” dogs participated in the North raid, the Woods would only admit the presence of 10 animals and has refused to address the discrepancy. 

To assist in the search, Mr. Bearden “deputized” (his term, to our chagrin) a school employee to assist in the searches.  We wonder how the “deputizing” of a teacher might affect students’ future relationships with school personnel, and upon what authority the badge was pinned.

At North, the dogs “alerted” on 15 vehicles in the North student lot. “Alerted” is the police term for “my dog thinks it found something, so let’s make the owner unlock the car so we can snoop inside.” Every single “alert” was false. No drugs were found, despite the screaming insistence of the good officer from Saginaw. Note also the symmetry:  15 dogs, 15 “alerts.” I suppose they all got cookies afterward.

On behalf of a client, I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in the Woods seeking all details of the raid—including all police reports completed by the individual officers and the training and certification data for the K9 officers and their dogs.

The Woods refused my FOIA request for the reports, forcing me to file a Circuit Court lawsuit to force them to disclose the details. After many conversations and meetings with the Woods city attorney, I was given some of the information that I sought. Some, but not all. 

Among the many documents that the Woods claims not to have are any reports by any of the K9 officers or handlers that participated in the raid. This violates every basic police protocol.

We told Klein, Fenton, Diver and Bearden during our meeting that the K9 officers didn’t file individual reports of their participation in these raids, and asked if they didn’t find it of great concern that the school system was allowing unknown and unidentified officers to conduct the raids. We were assured that this would not be allowed in the future, yet six weeks later the school system permitted another raid. Can we anticipate that black ski masks will be acceptable attire for the officers in the future? What is the practical difference between being unidentified and being hidden?

So, Grosse Pointe parents and residents, please understand that although officers and dogs from Saginaw, Buena Vista, Plymouth Township, Van Buren, Redford, Hamtramck and St. Clair Shores are now regularly raiding our schools, there exist NO reports detailing their participation, findings, confiscations, contraband—nothing. None. You’ll have to check with those departments to see if they have any reports. 

During our meeting, Bearden confirmed there was no written plan. But, lo and behold, two months after I filed suit, an undated “Operational Plan” was forwarded to my office.  The late-arriving plan listed, among others, Mr. Bearden as having supervisory authority over “B Building Administration Building First Floor.”[sic]

Emails gained during the lawsuit against Grosse Pointe Woods show that on November 18, 2010, a Woods detective noted that my FOIA had been received. On November 23, 2010, that same Woods detective emailed the Woods Director of Public Safety that the report on the raids was finished and to “remember to make this a suppressed report.” Suppressed? From whom?  From parents and citizens of Grosse Pointe, or just attorneys with the temerity to make FOIA inquiries on behalf of their clients?

The lack of accountability and secrecy was, for so many reasons, unacceptable. Should we allow police departments from outside the Grosse Pointes, who do not share our values and mores, to plan and execute their secret ”training sessions” in our schools?

The decision has been made for you, and the answer is an unfortunate “Sure!  Why not?”  I analogized this to the school system allowing a painting contractor into the schools without checking the background of the workers who would have contact with our children.  At the meeting, those present agreed that my point was well-taken.  Apparently it was not.

The school system’s sanctioning of drug raids without a clear plan and documentation is irresponsible as well as a potential liability nightmare. In light of the minimal “success” that these operations have generated (three small amounts of marijuana in three raids) and the now indisputable disrespect with which the raids are conducted, do we really need to allow these “training exercises” to disrupt the atmosphere of our schools? Do we subordinate the value of our learning environment to the whims of a dog team?

A final, but I believe, important, point: Contrary to assumptions about our motives and the scuttlebutt and name-calling that has permeated recent Grosse Pointe Fraternal Order of Police Lodge meetings, we are not “cop-haters” nor are we “sleazy attorneys.” We have no financial interest in our investigation into these raids; we are acting pro bono. I made it clear at the February meeting that we have no interest in a civil rights suit over the incidents at North, nor do we represent anyone with such a plan. We are not even being paid to make these inquiries.  We are concerned citizens and parents.

Personally, I support the idea of drug sweeps.  I cannot, though, support the Wild West attitude that is tolerated as the System permits these raids to occur in our schools. Dr. Klein’s tolerance of these raids is completely baffling in light of her otherwise outstanding record of service to the great Grosse Pointe Public Schools.

Gary M. Wilson

Wilson & Cain, P.A.

Grosse Pointe Farms