One of my biggest issues with the debate about body searches is how polarizing the issue is. Body searches recently sparked debate in April after two Capital High School students sued Santa Fe Public Schools over invasive searches at their prom. People make snap judgments and take one side — typically the one that most other people choose. In this case, it's the side that abhors the idea of being searched. I'll admit, I was one of those people when the news first broke.

Afterward, I took time to think about it.

There are some things in life that are necessary evils: the Department of Motor Vehicles, Cerrillos Road construction, airport security and, by extension, searches at school events.

As someone who went to Santa Fe High School for four years and was searched
numerous times at dances — including last year's prom and this year's homecoming — I can honestly say that the searches inspired no ill feelings in me or my friends. It was a little bit annoying to have to take the battery out of my phone, take my shoes off and get patted down, but it wasn't a horribly invasive procedure, nor was it conducted for an extended period of time.

In my last experience, it took some pretty clever smuggling on the part of students to get contraband into the dance. Now, however, students can take whatever they want into a school function as long as it isn't visible or made of metal.

The point I want to make is that the new way SFPS is searching students is a joke. A court-ordered joke, but a joke nonetheless. At my graduation, the security guards had a metal-detector wand. If you got searched, you were just given a quick once-over with the wand. If it's not metal, it doesn't arouse suspicion.

The new search method really only inspired a notion that the searches were completely ineffective. I certainly didn't feel incredibly safe, but I also didn't think anyone would bring a knife to a prom or graduation, because I like to think that people are neither that
sinister nor that stupid.

Now, let me just say that I love the Constitution. I have a Constitution app on my iPod touch. I have an "I heart the First Amendment" bumper sticker. So I know which amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure (the Fourth Amendment). But I also don't believe that searches are unreasonable.

I don't care if I have to be patted down, because I know it's done to keep me safe. I also like knowing that people aren't running around prom with cocaine or Ecstasy. The new searches, however, don't ensore that.

As my time with SFPS has come to a close, I'm not going to be affected by this anymore, but I don't think that popular opinion should dominate the discussion, or prevent one from happening. People often don't take time to think and just enjoy jumping on the anti-establishment bandwagon.

David Salazar is a recent graduate of Santa Fe High. You can reach him at davidjsalazar@gmail.com