Undersheriff Owen is
the D.A.R.E. Program coordinator in Chouteau County. For more
information about this program, contact Owen at (406) 622-5451
About D.A.R.E.
This year millions
of school children around the world will benefit from D.A.R.E. (Drug
Abuse Resistance Education), the highly acclaimed program that gives
kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and
violence. D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven
so successful that it is now being implemented in 75 percent of our
nation's school districts and in more than 43 countries around the
world. D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons
that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to
resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free
lives.
Overwhelming national and international demand for D.A.R.E. led to
the creation of D.A.R.E. America, a national non-profit
organization. D.A.R.E. America serves as a resource to communities,
helping to establish and improve local D.A.R.E. programs. D.A.R.E.
America provides officer training, supports the development and
evaluation of the D.A.R.E. curriculum, provides student educational
materials, monitors instruction standards and program results, and
creates national awareness for D.A.R.E.
Specially Trained Cops Assigned D.A.R.E. Classroom "Beats"
The D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to be taught by police officers
whose training and experience gave them the background needed to
answer the sophisticated questions often posed by young students
about drugs and crime. Prior to entering the D.A.R.E. program,
officers undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child
development, classroom management, teaching techniques, and
communication skills. 40 hours of additional training are provided
to D.A.R.E. instructors to prepare them to teach the high school
curriculum.
D.A.R.E. Receives High Marks From America's Leaders
Presidential administrations, governors, members of congress, and
state legislators have praised D.A.R.E. Since 1988, Presidential
Proclamation declares one day each year National D.A.R.E. Day. State
legislatures have joined with the President and Congress by
proclaiming D.A.R.E. day within their respective states.
D.A.R.E. Training is Unique
D.A.R.E. goes beyond traditional drug abuse and violence prevention
programs. It gives children the skills needed to recognize and
resist the subtle and overt pressures that cause them to experiment
with drugs or become involved in gangs or violent activities.
D.A.R.E. is Community Policing
D.A.R.E. is universally viewed as an internationally recognized
model of community policing. The United States Department of Justice
has identified how D.A.R.E. benefits local communities:
D.A.R.E. "humanizes" the police: that is, young people can begin to
relate to officers as people
D.A.R.E. permits students to see officers in a helping role, not
just an enforcement role
D.A.R.E. opens lines of communication between law enforcement and
youth
D.A.R.E. Officers can serve as conduits to provide information
beyond drug-related topics
D.A.R.E. opens dialogue between the school, police, and parents to
deal with other issues
The New D.A.R.E. classroom lessons
Never satisfied, D.A.R.E. America is moving forward with an even
better and improved D.A.R.E. program. In fact, it is in the tenth
revision of the program. Recognizing that no other school-based
program possesses the delivery system of D.A.R.E., the prestigious
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has provided a generous grant to the
University of Akron to develop and test a new D.A.R.E. curriculum.
This new state-of-the art substance abuse prevention curriculum will
be tested and evaluated over a five-year period with over 50,000
students in six U.S. cities. The goal is to design and test the next
generation of science-based program.
