Early this June, after four months of investigation by undercover detectives, 12 students from three Federal Way high schools and two adults were arrested for selling drugs, including ecstasy, oxycodone and cocaine. They also sold rifles and semi-automatic handguns, The Seattle Times reported.

In November 2003, police arrested three students at Redmond High School after the students sold illegal drugs to an undercover officer. All three were convicted the following year.

As part of their undercover work, officers maintained student personas and attended regular classes. Jennifer Shaw, legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Washington state, told the Times about their success: “It’s scary. You have non-students, non-teachers sneaking around talking to kids. … Our kids should be sent to school to learn. To bring somebody in to do undercover investigation is frightening.”

I find the ACLU’s reaction frightening. Undercover officers in high schools can provide long-term security. In both cases, undercover cops were placed in high schools in response to excessive parental complaints.

If students fear being caught, they may keep drugs out of schools. An officer involved in the Redmond case said students ask her daughter if there are police in the classroom.

Shaw implied that students would be distracted or threatened by undercover cops. However, watching students sell and abuse drugs on campus is a bit more distracting than the thought that the loner in the corner might actually be a cop. Furthermore, if you’re not doing anything wrong, then there is no reason to be “frightened.”

Shaw’s portrayal of “non-students” and “non-teachers” “sneaking” around the school depicts detectives as criminals. But she doesn’t admit that students are the drug dealers, and officers are neither breaking any laws nor walking any ethical lines.

Dare I say they’re the good guys?

Not only are the officers looking for illicit activities that distract students, they are a better general security alternative than teachers. Let’s be honest, high schools aren’t usually thought of as crime-free utopias.

Somebody has to be there to keep the hellfire to a minimum, and although a high school staff fully equipped with nightsticks and handguns might improve test scores, I’d rather leave policing to the professionals. Beyond chewing gum violations and detention, teachers shouldn’t be responsible for any policing.

The undercover officers didn’t just buy illegal drugs, they also purchased guns off-campus. We shouldn’t complain about officers finding and arresting individuals who sell weapons to high school students, especially in the shadow of Virginia Tech.

It’s also unlikely that this trend of high school detective work will spill over into colleges. First of all, many heavy drug abusers never attend college. Also, most college students are legal adults; their parents cannot influence the police.

Finally, most college students have little reason to purchase or sell drugs in lecture halls and libraries. At the UW, for example, dealers are found across 15th Avenue.

Undercover officers aren’t scary or impinging on anyone’s rights. The only people who should be afraid of them are those who have committed crimes.

Police officers patrolling schools is nothing new, and the ACLU has no reason to disapprove of their undercover work. It’s not a teacher’s job to police students, and the police are better trained. Although we’ll never create a perfect utopia, the occasional undercover bust in extreme cases does extinguish some illicit activities in public schools.