GOOSE CREEK - Solicitor Ralph Hoisington asked state Attorney General Henry McMaster on Thursday to investigate whether any laws were broken when police swept through Stratford High School looking for drugs, pointing guns at students and ordering them to the floor.

The prosecutor said after reviewing tapes and a 200-page State Law Enforcement Division report he has questions about the Nov. 5 incident.

"While I am confident the goals of the Goose Creek Police Department were appropriate, the actual methods employed by certain officers were ill-advised," Hoisington said.

Hoisington also asked SLED to share its investigation with the U.S. attorney's office and FBI to determine whether federal violations occurred.

Surveillance cameras showed students on the floor while officers with guns drawn looked for drugs. Police checked 107 students and briefly restrained about a dozen.

Fourteen officers and a dog took part in the sweep in this bedroom community of about 29,000 about 20 miles northwest of Charleston.

School officials contacted police after reports of marijuana sales on the campus. Police said the dog sniffed drug residue on 12 book bags but found no drugs.

Some parents have defended school officials for getting tough with drugs, while others have criticized police tactics.

"We're talking about children. We're not talking about adults," said Sharon Smalls, who said her son, a freshmen, had a gun pointed at his head. "It should never be acceptable for an adult. You go to jail if you point a gun at somebody."

Hoisington said he was "appalled." "The students are not at war with the police, and it shouldn't appear that way," he said.

He said he could not conclude with certainty the police actions were legally justified. Because he has to prosecute cases brought by the local police, Hoisington said he asked McMaster to investigate.

The attorney general could conduct his own investigation or assign the matter to another prosecutor from another part of the state, Hoisington said.

The attorney general's office had not received the information or SLED's report as of Thursday, said spokesman Trey Walker. There was no timetable for when a decision would be made, he said.

Mayor Michael Heitzler said town officials were upset by the video of the drug sweep broadcast nationwide.

He said the town is contacting other towns and cities to see how they deal with drugs in schools.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited neighboring North Charleston for what organizers called a rally against police violence.

"There is the national disgrace of children having guns in their faces on a drug bust that ends up with no drugs," Jackson told reporters. "This issue is really more about wrong and right than black and white. People of good will - black and white - must say no to that kind of behavior toward children."