Gallup-McKinley County Schools is cracking down on drugs. During the previous school year, the school district started a partnership with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office and its K-9 division.
The partnership formed after the school district approached the sheriff’s office and expressed a concern about finding vapes and marijuana products inside some of the middle schools and high schools in the district.
“The idea of working with the district was to keep the kids and the schools safe, to keep a safe, drug-free school environment. I think the school administration and administrators do a pretty good job, they’ve found more product than we have with the dogs, so clearly there is commitment coming out of the district for finding this stuff and making sure that it’s not happening inside of their school,” Undersheriff James Maiorano III said in an interview with the Sun.
Maiorano said that the dogs are brought in on random days, with only the coordinators knowing when they’re going to arrive at the schools beforehand. The principals and safety officers learn about the sweeps on the day that it happens.
“If we give notice, it’s all going to disappear before we get there,” Maiorano said.
Maiorano said that last year the K-9 division did sweeps at Navajo Pine High School, Thoreau High School, Miyamura High School, Gallup High School, Navajo Middle School, Thoreau Middle School, and Chee Dodge Elementary School.
Maiorano said that some of the schools came up clean, but that doesn’t mean that drugs aren’t present at the school.
The dogs are trained to find marijuana, THC products, and other narcotics such as cocaine or fentanyl. Maiorano said they haven’t found cocaine or fentanyl at the schools; instead they’ve found THC gummies, THC vapes, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia such as pipes and lighters.
Maiorano went into detail about the types of vapes the division has found at schools.
“The vape pens we’re finding range from very skinny pens that look like pens – fits in a backpack really well – to USB-charged vapes,” Maiorano said. “Even if they’re tobacco, it’s still unlawful to possess tobacco under the age of 21, so whether it’s a THC product or a tobacco product, both are under violation of school policy, and a violation of New Mexico law.”
Since the dogs can only detect marijuana and narcotics, Maiorano said that about 99% of the vapes the division has found have been THC vapes rather than tobacco.
In one case at Miyamura High School, the division found a large quantity of vape pens that belonged to one student, which led them to believe that the individual was dealing or reselling the pens.
“At Miyamura High School there was a decent amount of product found, and I’m not exactly sure where the case went because we turned it over to the Gallup Police Department as the primary agency to investigate,” Maiorano said.
Maiorano said that once the K-9 division finds the drugs or drug paraphernalia, they turn what they found over to the district and the district deals with the student’s punishment from there. A juvenile probation officer is the one who decides whether the student will face any legal charges.
Maiorano said the action the district or legal authorities take depends on the age of the student, what is found, and in what quantity. It’s all looked at case by case.
The K-9 division uses dogs to locate drugs, but Maiorano said the school sweeps can also be a positive experience for the students and staff.
“We use [the sweeps] as both an educational tool and as an enforcement tool. The idea is for all the kids in the school, and the school staff and law enforcement to have a positive interaction,” Maiorano said. “For those kids who aren’t bringing drugs into school and aren’t having drug related issues, it’s going to be a positive reinforcement, because [the officers] introduce their dogs.”
Maiorano said they do bring the dogs to the elementary schools, but only to introduce the kids to the dogs and explain what they do. He said nothing has been found at the elementary level, but that it doesn’t mean it’s not there.
“I’m not saying it’s not there; at the elementary school level we have gotten reports of them finding marijuana products, vape pens, and THC products,” Maiorano said.
Maiorano said the K-9 division is planning on starting the sweeps early this school year. “We intend to kick right off at the beginning of the school year to send that message early in the semester that drugs are not going to be tolerated at the Gallup-McKinley County School District,” Maiorano said.
By Molly Ann Howell
Sun Correspondent
