Random scans of Harford County Public Schools students' vehicles and lockers using police dogs have yielded a BB style gun, but no drugs or other contraband substances so far this school year, according to HCPS records.
Harford County school officials, working in cooperation with law enforcement and after tweaking the procedures governing the scans last summer, continue what has been a long-standing practice of allowing the dogs on high and middle school campuses.
The dogs, which are handled by a Harford County Sheriff's Office deputy or municipal police officer, did not find any illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco products or weapons during scans in the 2013-14 school year. Through almost five months this school year, the results have been almost the same.
The one exception has been a alert that let to discovery of an Airsoft BB pistol, which was found in an Aberdeen High School student's vehicle during a search of the parking lot, according to Jillian Lader, a spokesperson for Harford County Public Schools.
Dogs have been used to scan 5,560 lockers and 145 vehicles in 17 middle and high schools in the county as of Feb. 11, according to a report posted on the HCPS website.
Lader said the scans take place between October and May each school year.
Dogs have alerted 20 times this year, according to the report, but only one find has been made, the Airsoft gun, which was classified as an "other weapon" in the report. Law enforcement officers did not find any illegal drugs, tobacco or alcoholic products or knives, the reports state.
Airsoft guns fire plastic BBs, but they are designed to look like real revolvers, automatic handguns and automatic rifles and submachine guns, except for a bright orange coloring on the muzzle.
A BB style gun is considered a "dangerous weapon," according to the HCPS Parent-Student Handbook Calendar for the 2014-2015 school year. The handbook is posted on the school system website.
Regarding the Airsoft gun recovered at Aberdeen High, Lader confirmed the vehicle searched was a "student vehicle," but she noted school officials "do not discuss specific student disciplinary action, if any," so it is not known if any action was taken against a student or students.
HCPS won't provide any other details about the incident, including when it occurred.
Students and parents are warned about the prospect of scans by drug-detecting dogs in schools, according to the handbook
The school principal or a "designee" will search a locker if a dog alerts, and a law enforcement officer can search a vehicle, according to the handbook.
"Drug detecting dogs may be used randomly or at the request of the principal based on reasonable suspicion that drugs might be in the school," according to the handbook. "Under no circumstances will a drug detecting dog be used to sniff any individual person."
The procedures followed for the scans were tweaked by HCPS officials last summer, primarily to avoid embarrassment to the students, who previously were required to stand next to their lockers or vehicles while the dog conducted its exterior sniff search.
Under the new procedure, adopted by the School Board in August, searches are conducted without the students present. If the dog alerts on a vehicle or locker, the student is summoned to the school office instead.
Airsoft pistols look enough like a real gun, that on retailer, Airsoft GI, posts this disclaimer on its website: "No person may openly display or expose any imitation firearm (replica firearm), in a public place."
Airsoft-style weapons have been in the public consciousness in recent months after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by Cleveland police officers in November 2014.
A 911 caller reported Rice was in a park pointing what appeared to be a real handgun at people, but it turned out to be a pellet gun. The Cleveland police and dispatchers have been criticized for their handling of the call and the immediate aftermath.