Working cooperatively with the Glynn/Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team (GB-NET), the Glynn County Schools Police Department in Georgia recently concluded a six-month undercover investigation targeting the sale and use of illegal drugs on the campus of Glynn Academy.
Glynn Academy is a high school in Brunswick with an enrollment of nearly 1,800 students. The operation at the academy resulted in the arrests of two people in January and the issuing of arrest warrants on March 11 for six additional people, three of whom are former students at the school, with one current student that is a juvenile.
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“We conducted the investigation in response to parents and students who expressed concerns about drug sales on campus,” said Glynn County Schools Police Chief Rod Ellis. “While there was only one instance involving the sale of narcotics on campus, those involved made contacts on campus that led to the sale of cocaine, pills, marijuana and weapons in other off-campus locations. In each of these instances, illegal drugs and weapons were taken off of the streets as a result of this investigation.”
Ellis said that the nature of the investigation required the team to think beyond the use of normal daily patrol and surveillance tactics.
“With the backing of School Superintendent Howard Mann, Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering and Brunswick Police Chief Kevin Jones, we utilized a young looking undercover officer who posed as a student during the course of the investigation. This strategy proved to be very effective and ultimately led to the success of the operation,” Ellis said.
As a student at Glynn Academy in the 1980s, Ellis was aware of illegal drug sales and usage among students back then.
“We all know that this problem is nothing new. However, we hope that combining forces with Capt. Terry Wright and the GB-NET team will send a clear message to those that want to compromise the success of our young people by introducing drugs or weapons on a school campus. They won’t go unchallenged. We want them to be nervous and steer clear of schools, because they’ll never know if the ‘student’ they’re dealing with is actually on our side of the law,” Ellis said.
