UPDATED: Drug Sweep At High School Comes Up Empty

Update: 4:30 p.m.

Upon being reached, Supt. Ullman said the following about the search which occurred this morning:

"The sweep of Simsbury High School was successful and we thank the Simsbury Police as well as the officers from neighboring communities who helped with the process. We are taking this action to reinforce with students that we will do what is necessary to keep our schools and our students safe. I hope the message to students is, stay away from drugs and other substances that are harmful to your health. We will continue to work with parents and the community to reinforce this message not only in school, but also in the community. The response from parents has been overwhelmingly positive, and the have expressed appreciation for the message we are sending to our youth."

Original Article:

Eight police canines were brought into Simsbury High School this morning to perform a drug sweep. This action comes following an early February warning that a step like this might be taken because of an "increase in the number of arrests of our young people for drug possession and possession with intent to sell,"  said Principal Sullivan in the letter home to parents.

"The program was initiated as another means by the Town of Simsbury to provide a safe environment for children in and around the schools," said Lieutenant Nicholas Boulter in a press release following the search. 

"All of the floors and all of the hallway lockers were searched," said Boulter. "We were in the school for a very short time.  We wanted to minimize any potential distractions to the classrooms."

The search took only 17 minutes.

Since Simsbury's police department itself does not have any canines officers, the dogs were brought in from Newington, Southington, Enfield, Farmington and Bloomfield.

No drugs were found, no arrests were made.

According to Boulter, there will probably be another search before the end of the school year. "They will most likely be done periodically," he said. "We will meet with the school and come up with some sort of plan."

According to Principal Sullivan, if any illegal substance is found during a search, the offending student will be questioned further by administration and penalities may include suspension and/or expulsion from school.