Silke Jasso
Worth County police are defending a recent detention and search of every student in Worth County High School, despite the fact that police found nothing.
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Sheriff Jeff Hobby said the invasive search was necessary after arrests made in a series of local burglaries revealed what he called “drug activity” at the high school. Police from the town of Sylvester, who were handling the burglary investigation, had just executed a search in the school in March, according to WALB. That search also found nothing.
Hobby believed a subsequent second search was necessary because Sylvester’s “wasn’t thorough enough.” He notified Interim Worth County Schools Superintendant Lawrence Walters he would be searching the school again after spring break.
Walters says he didn’t initially object, assuming that it would be similar to other searches he’d seen. He did, however, tell WALB that Worth County did not ask permission, only informing them they would be executing a search.
“We did not give permission, but they didn’t ask for permission,” Walters says. “He just said […] that he was going to do it after spring break.”
The search was very different from other searches he’d witnessed in his education career. He told WALB, “I’ve never been involved with anything like that ever in the past 21 years, and I don’t condone it.” He said deputies individually patted down every single student at the high school and brought drug dogs along with them. They put the school on lockdown for hours to conduct the search.
Sheriff Hobby confirms that there were dogs involved in the search, saying they came “from the state.”
At no time did the school district give the police permission to touch every student at the school, says Superintendent Walters. Parents say their children were touched “aggressively” — and the Worth County Sheriff’s Office has already disciplined one deputy for getting “too intrusive” during the pat-downs.
Worth County Sheriff’s Office says the deputy in question has received “corrective action” to ensure that a violation of that nature “never happens again.” Sheriff Jeff Hobby claims he had the ability to search every student because he had a school administrator with him.
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Parents are now filing complaints with the state of Georgia.
“Rights were violated. They shouldn’t have been searched,” said parent Jerry Heflin, who has three daughters at Worth County High School. “It was inappropriately done. I think they need to learn from their mistakes,” he says.
The Worth County Sheriff’s website says the department is “committed” to “respecting individual rights, human dignity, and community morals and values:”
It is the mission of the Worth County Sheriff’s Office to work in partnership with the citizens of Worth County toward providing a safe environment while enhancing the quality of life consistent with the values, upstanding morals and diversity of the community. We are committed to the enforcement of laws, the protection of life and property, while respecting individual rights, human dignity and community morals and values at all times.
