Students and teachers at Cedartown High School were caught offguard last Thursday, as several agencies of police officers searched the school grounds for drugs.

The search came as a surprise, unannounced to the administration, faculty and student body.

Polk Police Capt. Ron Thomas told The Standard Friday that the intent of the search was to be unexpected, as it was.

According to a county official, only Supt. Dr. Billy Pack of the Polk School District was notified.

The search was conducted by county officers, the Drug Task Force, school resource officers, DARE officers, investigators and a canine officer with the Department of Defense.

A code red was alerted by school officials and students were confined to class. School officials called the search a “lockdown.”

Students were kept inside classrooms from approximately 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., according to some students at the school.

A number of lockers were hit on by the canine unit, in addition to vehicles in the parking lot, Thomas said.

No arrests were made due to the fact that only residue and marijuana seeds were located.

In a coordinating effort with the Rockmart Police Department, around 2 p.m., the same search was conducted at Rockmart High School with the same results.

“It has been several years since a canine unit has been used in public schools in Polk County,” Thomas said. “But at the request of the Polk County Board of Education and the Polk County Police Department, this will be adopted as a matter of policy.”

Interim Chief Billy Wills strongly supports this policy and told county commissioners at the March meeting that his department were going to focus more on drug enforcement.