The new security cameras at Nashoba Regional High School are coming in handy in more ways than one. Last week, they helped to track down a student suspected of smoking marijuana in one of the school bathrooms.
According to Police Chief Vincent Alfano, the department received a call from school officials on Wednesday asking them to pick up marijuana retrieved from a student. Police were told that an administrator reported the smell of marijuana wafting out of a bathroom. She and a male administrator respectively entered the girls’ and boys’ bathrooms at the location, but found no one there. The odor was thought to come from the boys’ bathroom. Alfano said school officials then viewed a videotape from a camera in the area, and observed only one student entering the bathroom during the 45 minutes prior to the administrator’s discovery. The student was questioned and was found to have a small amount of marijuana on him.

Principal John Smith confirmed the use of the videotape, and said it identified a student entering the bathroom, who raised suspicion due to the time frame. When questioned, he was found to have marijuana in his possession. The student has been suspended for five days, according to Smith.

Alfano said the 17-year-old student would be summonsed to court for possession of a Class D substance, marijuana.

Are drugs a problem at Nashoba, more or less than in the past?

Smith said there have been a few incidents this year — a couple in school — but the majority have been after school or during football games. “We’ve worked with the Bolton Police Department. There is not a large increase over any given year.”

Smith said they do not tolerate the use of drugs or alcohol and are not hesitant to take action. “Some [kids] choose to make poor decisions.”

The security cameras are located in the halls and more populated venues, and also cover the student parking lot. “They are used after the fact,” Smith said. “We’re not sitting here looking at film all the time.”

The students don’t think about them, Smith said, because they are not intrusive. “They are very inconspicuous, a small round dome in the ceilings.”

While on site for only a month or so, Smith cited two other examples where the cameras helped locate an offender. A student’s backpack was taken and the tape identified a student athlete from another school picking it up and walking off with it. Nashoba administrators contacted the other school, the student was located and the backpack was returned. “It worked very well.”

In another incident, Bolton Police reported a 911 hang up call from the pay phone in the cafeteria. With the time of the call logged at the police station, administrators were able to identify the student making the call on the tape, Smith said.

All in all, Smith said, “The cameras help to provide a safer environment.”