Although drug sniffing dogs on loan from the Boone County Sheriff's Department flagged a few vehicles, no drugs were found during a search at the Fulton High School campus Wednesday morning.
Maj. Roger Rice, assistant chief of the Fulton Police Department - and Fulton Schools' resource officer - said the high school parking lot and six classrooms were included in the search.
"The dogs did a super job. We had probable cause to search three cars and two backpacks," Rice said. "The smell of drugs was there, but no drugs were found. That doesn't mean there are no drugs (at the high school)."
He said the district decided to bring in drug dogs because "we hadn't done it in a while," adding that periodic searches are important to help ensure student safety.
"We have to do that. If you've got drugs in your school, what comes next is violence," Rice said. "You have to keep it out of schools to keep it safe."
He said drug dog searches are a good tool in that mission.
"We don't bring in drug dogs to make (drug) cases, we do it to make kids more aware of the fact we're watching and we do care," Rice said. "We owe students a safe place to get an education, and that's exactly why we do it."