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Highly Trained Officers Deliver the always at our family dinner table on the local institutions, found universally in all
Curricula days he/she was in our child’s classroom/ communities, benefit substantially when
school.” there is “collaboration” among representa-
Only officers who are carefully vetted by tives of the various institutions. Nationally,
leadership in their community law enforce- Annual National/International Training “community-based policing” is a dominant
ment agencies are sent to DOTs. They are Conferences approach for law enforcement agencies.
further vetted by the mentors responsible D.A.R.E. is an essential component of
for training new D.A.R.E. officers. Then, In 2017, D.A.R.E held its 30th annual train- community-based policing.
D.A.R.E. officers undergo a rigorous 80- ing conference for D.A.R.E. officers offer-
hour training course conducted by mentors ing over 70 workshops on updates of the From a prevention perspective, the pre
with a significant number of years of class- curricula and topic-specific issues that will K-12, D.A.R.E. keepin’ it REAL curricula
room experience as well as university-lev- help the officers address issues experienced are targeted at all students (i.e. “universal”
el educators in Colleges of Education. All by youth in preK-12 grades. In addition to prevention) rather than being targeted at
officers are taught to deliver the curricula the United States, trained officers deliver students with specific risk factors (“select-
exactly as they are written, thereby achiev- D.A.R.E. curricula in 52 other countries. ed” prevention) or at students who are al-
ing the goal of nearly 100% implementa- The Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Com- ready using drugs (“indicated” prevention).
tion fidelity. It is important to note that not mittee of the International Association of
all who begin a DOT graduate. Through- Chiefs of Police (IACP), responsible for The primary goal of most school-based,
out the 80-hour course (this includes only drug abuse issues held its annual summer curriculum-driven prevention program-
time spent receiving instruction, it does meeting at the 30th D.A.R.E. training con- ming is to encourage decisions to never
not include hours of practicing the lessons ference. use drugs, or at least facilitate a significant
in small groups and in front of the entire Annual College Scholarship for One delay in the onset of use of drugs. The fo-
group) officers in the DOT are assessed for Youth Leader cus of social-emotional learning principles
readiness to deliver the curricula. It is not in the D.A.R.E./keepin’ it REAL curricu-
unusual for an officer undergoing the train- For 25 years, from 1995-2017, D.A.R.E. la could be critical elements in decisions
ing to be sent home without graduating. America has awarded an annual college to not continue using drugs, to encourage
scholarship to one member of the Youth decreasing and/or completely stopping the
“Local Human Face” for Prevention at Advocacy Board that is comprised of one use of drugs.
the Community-Level representative from each state. D.A.R.E. D.A.R.E. America recognizes that its com-

When classroom teachers deliver a preven- enlists an intensive and extensive review prehensive pre K-12 curricula are only one,
tion curriculum, parents and others in the and selection process to select the annual although a potentially significant part of
community think of them as “teachers” recipient to receive the $20,000 scholar- an overall and comprehensive approach to
of a certain grade, or “teachers” of a cer- ship. Since 1995, D.A.R.E. has awarded drug use and abuse. It is important to note
tain topic (mathematics, English, Civics, $440,000 in total scholarship funds; no oth- that all law enforcement agencies are offi-
Health Education, etc.), not as teachers of er curricula program has a college scholar- cially committed to the mission of reducing
“prevention.” However, parents, school ship award. the supply of drugs (i.e., supply reduction)
administrators, teachers, and members of Every one of the 3,142 counties in the as well as reducing the demand (demand
the general community think of law en- United States contains at least one, often reduction) for drugs via prevention.
forcement officers as THE D.A.R.E. Offi- more than one law enforcement agency
cer who teaches drug prevention. The most and one or more community schools with Why D.A.R.E. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22,
common comment from parents received grades pre K-12, and the appropriate edu- 2019, from https://dare.org/why-d-a-r-e/
by researchers evaluating the effectiveness cational administrative structures. These
of D.A.R.E. is: “The D.A.R.E. officer was

FEBRUARY 2019 NARCOTIC OFFICERS MAGAZINE™ — 9