TUKWILA, Wash. — An undercover detective has been investigating drug activity at Foster High School in Tukwila.
Not even the principal of the school knew about the operation.
On Friday, police concluded their investigation by making three arrests.
However, the school district announced that happily, police found Foster High School "does not have a thriving or even pervasive drug culture," and that the "vast majority of students are not involved in drugs."
The two arrested students, and a third adult who did not work at the school, were caught selling cocaine, the amphetamine Molly, and marijuana.
Two highlighted discoveries from the investigation:
- Teens and tweens are openly orchestrating drug interactions and other illegal activities over social media accounts
- Police found no evidence of a systematic trade in harder drugs like heroin; teenagers do however have a ‘worryingly relaxed’ attitude about marijuana
Tukwila Police Commander Eric Drever said police became concerned after a drug related robbery at the school. Then a student got caught with a gun and drugs in his backpack. Detectives needed to find out what was going on at Foster.
“The only way to actually address the situation with the students was to put someone in an undercover capacity that could engage with the students,” Drever said.
The department would not say if the undercover officer was posing as a student or staff. In 2007 Federal Way Police enrolled officers as students at three high schools. They recovered drugs and guns and made 12 arrests. Also in 2007, and again in 2010, Redmond Police had officers pose as a students to break up drug trafficking.
Although these stings may seem like something out of the movie “21 Jump Street,” Drever stressed. “We had officers that were investigating a serious crime.”
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