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Locker Searches - Do they invade privacy rights?

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LuciRuki

Born This Way
We were having a little discussion in my law classes about locker/bag searches and our privacy rights under the charter of rights and freedoms. What do you guys think? Do administration/police have the right to do random locker searches and are allowed to go through your stuff without permission?

As we discussed this in class, I came to the conclusion that yes it does violate a part in the charter, I think that it would be advisable to send a letter with the students at the beginning of the school year to inform everyone of these searches.

Do you think that a student should be held responsible if narcotics and drugs or weapons are found not just in the locker, but in the student's bag? In many cases these evidences has been dismissed in court due to privacy rights again.

So, what are your opinions.

P.S This section is under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I do not know how it works in other countries.

-LuciRuki-
 
GrizzlyB

GrizzlyB

Confused and Dazed
What's to stop a school from rummaging through a locker, considering that the locker is their property? I mean, you can go through your stuff anytime you please, why can't a school, or anything else for that matter, do the same?

Bags are a different story, though. I don't think a random search is as OK as a locker search. The bag is actually yours, not someone else's, so your consent should be necessary. But, if evidence can be found to justify a search, then by all means.
 
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DGCatAniSiri

Charmingly Cynical
The lockers are school property. They're there so that the students are not burdened by carrying all of their textbooks and such around all day. But the lockers are not the student's 'home away from home.' I see nothing against the schools opening and searching a student's locker.

Now, bag searches are a different beast. The bag DOES belong to the student and as such, the schools should require consent before searching them.
 
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Regan

Banned
Lockers do belong to the school, and therefore the school should be able to search any locker as they please. However, they should have to advise students to this beforehand. They should (legally) be able to do a visual search without actually touching/moving anything, but not be able to look under/inside books, in personal bags, or anywhere that can't be seen without moving anything.

Bags are a different story, and should only be performed when there is an immediate danger and not to try and find narcotics/alcohol.
 
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chuboy

<- It was THIS big!
Well, they WOULD be an infringement of privacy if it wasn't stated in the school constitution that student/staff must allow their property to be searched at school. It's not technically a privacy infringement since when they enrolled students agreed to this rule (or at least, their parents did on their behalf).

Besides, if you REALLY don't want people to see what's in your bag, why on Earth did you bring it to school? <_<
 
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$Cash$

Well-Known Member
chuboy said:
Besides, if you REALLY don't want people to see what's in your bag, why on Earth did you bring it to school? <_<
Click to expand...

Exactly
People who get caught with 8balls of coke and ounces of weed at school are retarded.. if I bought coke/weed I would go home immediately and deposit it.. keeping a lot of drugs in a locker is asking to get caught
If you keep it in your pocket or socks though you can get away with it easily
 
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Conquistador

Vive la Revolution!
It really comes down to one simple thing;

If you're not doing anything wrong, why should it matter if they search your bag?
 
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Profesco

gone gently
I'd put the safety and reputation of the student body as a whole above the privacy rights of the suspect individuals. The reason these searches exist in the first place are because of the idiots who bring drugs/weapons/etc. to school. I consider stupidity like that to be equal to a forfeit of some privacy rights.
 
Nidogod

Nidogod

Well-Known Member
Students give up a certain amount of privacy when they attend school. The school has to worry first and foremost about the safety of the student body, and that means securing the campus.
Click to expand...

This is where I stand. I whole heartedly believe that the school has the right to go through anything they please as long as it's on school grounds. At my school many students would bring in knives or even a gun on rare occasions and of course keep them in their personal bag. We had a problem with gang violence in my area and the areas surrounding. When we had the lockdowns with locker checks we usually had at least 50-100 kids get arrested for having some sort of illegal substance in their locker.

If it wasn't for the random checks we had I wouldn't have felt safe going to school everyday.

One thing I don't agree with is handling things outside of school. For about 2 months (before they got in serious trouble for it) my school would search students on MySpace. If they found a student with blog entries are partying, or pictures of them holding plastic cups or something they school would send them to our drug and alcohol guidance department. That's completely uncalled for, but maintaining the safety of the student body while on school grounds should have top priority no matter what, especially in this day and age with the amount of violence taking place in schools.
 
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Profesco

gone gently
Nidogod, I kind of appreciate the idea in your second big paragraph there. It's a tactic similar to that of Dateline's "To Catch a Predator." If people are going to be doing some seriously underhanded and poor behavior, then they ought to be caught doing it. At least be tasteful and responsible with your actions; that's my wish.
 
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Umbreon_13

Well-Known Member
well my government teacher explained this to my class once onece your in a school building you loose alot of your rights i think it is wrong and it does invade rights but there the school board what do they care but they never have had to check my locker and they wouldn't find anything real bad unless uou count the GBA or PSP depending on what game is in my locker that i am hiding from my mom so she don't take it from me for the fs i have so no they don't invade any laws but no it is not morally correct
 
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Dark SpOOn Bender

Paramount
People complain about their privacy being invaded, but who do you think is going to be blamed if something goes wrong? The school because it is the school's responsibility to protect its students when they are on school grounds. When I was in middle school, my principal always used to tell us that if we have a problem outside of school then that is our problem, but if the problem is brought into school then it becomes the school's problem.
Not only does the school have to be protective, but they also have the right to inspect their own property. Your stuff might be in the locker, but that doesn't change the fact that you don't own the locker.

Point is, people want safety. You have to relinquish a few things if you want to be under a certain amount of protection. Besides, you shouldn't have anything in your locker that would get you in trouble in the first place. If you have something embarrassing in the locker that you don't want anybody to see...well too bad. Either leave the thing at home or get over it. It isn't like the person inspecting your locker is going to go throughout the school and spread around that you keep pokemon cards in your backpack.
 
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Tomato Jr.

Well-Known Member
random locker searches DO infringe your rights.
it is perfectly ok to search through the lockers of people that are suspected of having something there, but not for innocents who have done nothing wrong. everyone has something in their locker they don't want others to see.
how would feel if you rented a property, then your landlord came routing through your home to see what you had in there.
i understand the need for safety in schools, but this does not outway the personal rights of the individual.

At my college (in the UK) the principal thought it would be a good idea to instigate a policy of random locker searches. We all walked out of lessons. they changed their minds.
 
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ironknight42

Well-Known Member
A school can legaly search your locker the locker is their property and they can definitly search if they say bring drug dogs through law enforcement can't open your locker without a warrant but if a school official opens and searches for them it is legal and if they find something they show it to the law enforcement officer and it is now in plain site so they can take it a evedence against you
 
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Darkmaster Rannon

Thundercats Hoo!
*Places pokemon cards into random peoples lockers*

If it's their property, they have every right to search through it, maybe search it while you're watching so you don't start whining later "Someone was in my locker! **********ing thief!"

Bags, no Unles said student has a history of violence.
 
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Strants

Well-Known Member
At schools in my area, parent have to sign a sheet at the back of a school rule book. Early on in the book, it state that property searches may be done with some suspicion. You have to sign the book, or your child gets detention. It sounds like blackmail, but the school has rights, too. Could I just walk into your house without agreeing to your rules? I think not. In the end, students have given up those rights. Parents can't complain; THEY signed the rights away from their kids.
 
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Regan

Banned
Say someone Columbines the school, and a police report states that the individuals hid weapons in there lockers and went for them during the break between classes. The schools could be liable. Its nothing like the landlord looking through their house, as well.
 
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ninny13

Well-Known Member
I agree with what a lot of people are saying. The schools have the right to go through your locker, considering it is their property. And yes, students should be held responsible for any findings of drugs, weapons, etc. found in the lockers and even their own school bags. Since they are bringing the illegal substances to school, they could be harmful to other students and teachers, so yes, their responsible IMO.
If they have reasonable cause for searching through your locker or bag, then they should go for it. Like if they overheard someone talking about your gun in your bag, then they should check it out for safety reasons. If it's just because they are searching the whole student body for some unknown reasons, then no, I think that is invading one's privacy.
 
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