Privacy Digest

Blanket alcohol tests violate privacy rights - DesMoinesRegister.com: "Student searches wrong without probable cause.

At this year's prom, Urbandale High School students were given Breathalyzer tests before they could enter the dance. None tested positive for alcohol. Now the school plans to set up Breathalyzer machines at school dances and football games.

'Our whole goal is we want young adults to come to our events, but we don't want them there under the influence of alcohol. It's unfortunate, but we feel this was a step we needed to take,' said principal Richard Hutchinson.

Some Iowans might shrug at the news. So what? Students shouldn't be drinking anyway. If you don't like being tested, don't drink. Or don't go to the prom, some might say.

But Iowans should care.

Testing students for alcohol amounts to a drug test, which amounts to a physical search -- a search with no suspicion of wrongdoing. That effectively strips students of their Fourth Amendment rights.

The search is a fishing expedition. School officials cast a wide net by testing everyone. Maybe someone gets snared -- and that someone might ultimately be criminally prosecuted. If a student tests positive for alcohol, the student is turned over to the school liaison officer, who is also an Urbandale police officer, Hutchinson said. School officials have essentially deputized themselves as an extension of local law enforcement.

All Iowans should care that schools are drug-testing kids at extracurricular activities - without reasonable suspicion. Urbandale is not alone. Valley High School of West Des Moines plans to use breath tests before its prom this weekend. Private schools have used them, too. Wahlert High School, a Roman Catholic school in Dubuque, used them for its prom last weekend, and Dowling Catholic High School of West Des Moines plans to do so this weekend.

Testing students for alcohol has grown in popularity nationwide as technology gets more affordable. In other words, it's now more affordable and easier for schools to invade the privacy of students. Urbandale purchased three testing machines for a few hundred dollars apiece.

Ben Stone, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said the Urbandale tests appear to be a clear violation of Iowa Code.

'Iowa Code section 808A states quite clearly that students cannot be searched, and it's very obvious from court decisions that a breath test is a search. It reveals things about your inner being,' Stone said. 'School officials can't search students without individualized, reasonable suspicion.'

The ACLU of Iowa would 'love to hear from' an Urbandale parent interested in exploring the legality of this practice, Stone said."

(Read Original Article - Via DesMoinesRegister.com .)