By Daniel Chee/The Skyline View

Drug busts have gone up since Chief Dean has taken over.

Student drug abuse violations at Skyline College have skyrocketed according to a recently released 2011 crime report.

Under the Federal Public Law 101-542, the Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990, Skyline College must release public reports regarding crime on campus. This information is compiled in the official website of the U.S. Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE).

According to crime statistics from the OPE site, Skyline College had no reported drug abuse violations in 2009 or 2010.

The 2011 report showed a stark contrast with 19 drug abuse violations. One violation was for drug paraphernalia while the other 18 violations were for simple marijuana possession according to Skyline College Public Safety Chief Robert Dean.

“Campus security officers were patrolling through the parking lot and either saw smoke roll out of a window or smelled it,” Dean said.

The College of San Mateo reported 20 drug violations for 2011, compared to none for the previous two years. Cañada College was the only campus in the district to have zero drug violations for the past three years.

The Public Safety Department’s methodology is to obtain the student’s information and send it to the Student Services.

Dean went on to include that public safety will not report marijuana offenses to the San Bruno Police Department, unless there is a large quantity involved.

Instead, students are referred to the vice-president of Skyline student services for disciplinary action.
Dean, a former Millbrae police captain of 24 years started working as a part-time officer for the district in early 2010. He cited an increase in training and personnel turnover at Skyline and its sister colleges to the increased busts.

More than half of the public safety officers in the district are former police officers.

As stated in the campus student policy handbook, Skyline College prohibits the use, possession, sale or distribution of alcohol, narcotics, dangerous or illegal drugs or other controlled substances in accordance with the Federal Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989.

The amendments require that any public school receiving government monetary aid to create and maintain drug abuse prevention programs for students and faculty. A 2008 update to the original amendment requires all schools to include the number of drug and alcohol-related violations that happened on campus in an annual report.

“Enrolled students must be responsible citizens,” said Dean of Enrollment Services Dr. John Mosby.

Mosby went on to say the campus had a no tolerance policy for drugs, a policy enforced by Public Safety as well as Student Services. He referred to the update student policy handbook which states that students found to be in violation of the drug-free campus policy will be subject to disciplinary actions up to and including suspension and expulsion. The handbook also states the use of medical marijuana to be a drug violation.

“Personally I feel if you want to smoke it in your own space, keep it away from places the general public is at,” said Kayla Crittendon, an athletic trainer at Skyline.

Former Skyline student Lucas Okuma agreed with Crittendon’s opinion. He also raised the question of whether the increased usage was an act of defiance to how legalization was shot down in legislation.

“I don’t care if people do it, just do it at home and not in front of me because I can’t stand the smell,” Okuma said.