Groton — Members of Groton Town Police Department’s K-9 unit, along with multiple local police K-9 teams, conducted an unannounced drug sweep at Robert E. Fitch Senior High School on Tuesday morning.

The 9 a.m. sweep included checks of student lockers and cars parked on school grounds. It was done at the request and with the cooperation of the Groton Board of Education and Fitch High School administration, a police news release said.

Police finished the sweep in a little less than a half hour and no drugs were found, the release said. Lt. John Varone said police also conducted a sweep at the school last year, and Tuesday's search was not prompted by any specific event or concern.

“It’s a proactive approach, both as a deterrent and also as an enforcement act, to basically just send a message to the kids that drugs are not going to be tolerated on school property,” Varone said. He said there would be more sweeps in the future.

Officers from the town, along with K-9 teams from Waterford, Clinton, Vernon, Willimantic, East Lyme, Montville, Stonington, Derby, Meriden, Ansonia, Norwich and Madison and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection participated in the sweep, the news release said.

This allowed the departments to search the school quickly and minimize disruption of the school day, Varone said.

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim