D.A.R.E.

D.A.R.E.

Hello, my name is Deputy Samuel D. Blank and I am the D.A.R.E. deputy and a certified S.R.O. (school resource officer) for Auglaize County. I would like to welcome you to the D.A.R.E. web page. Since you are here, I guess you might want to know a little bit about the D.A.R.E. program.

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 law enforcement 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.

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to be taught by law enforcement 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. 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 D.A.R.E. program in Auglaize County started in St.Marys in January of 1991 with Auglaize Counties previous D.A.R.E. officer Scott R. Evans, in the fall of 1994 the program went county wide, into all 6 school districts (St.Marys, Wapakoneta, New Bremen, Minster, New Knoxville and Waynesfield). The program is also being done at Holy Rosary School & Grand Lake Christian School in St.Marys, and St. Joe School in Wapakoneta.

In Auglaize County we target the 5th. graders with the idea to get to those children before they start experimenting with drugs. Unfortunately this, in some cases, is not early enough. Some children have already been introduced to drugs whether by their parents, relatives, or by friends. Even though, we target the 5th. grade, the D.A.R.E. program also works with the 4th. graders.

In the Wapakoneta School district once the student reaches the 6th. or 7th. grade they may try and join D.A.R.E. Council, which is a group of students wishing to continue their education on their own, and pass it on to other students. This program was started by Brittany Schaub, a D.A.R.E. Essay Winner, who wanted to continue D.A.R.E., which was not available at that time for her grade. So she and some other students formed the D.A.R.E. Council. The Council is now in charge of Red Ribbon Week, S.T.R.I.D.E. day and to get information out throughout the year about the dangers of drug use at that school. If you are interested in joining this program contact me, or your guidance councilors.

Hopefully you have found this information useful. If you have any further questions or if I can be of any assistance please feel free to call me at 419-739-6565, or you can e-mail me at 633@auglaizecounty.org.

Thank you,
Samuel D. Blank

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