DARE CELEBRATES 10 YEARS

Even through Drug Abuse Resistance Education programming is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, its goal of abolishing the use of drugs by America's youth has not changed.

DARE teachers like Cape Girardeau police officer Jeannie Dailey are updated each year during summer workshops that inform them of new drug trends and teach better communication skills. But the bottom line message remains the same: Don't use drugs. Not now; not ever.

"The real trick has become motivation of the classes," said Dailey, who has taught DARE courses to sixth-graders in Cape Girardeau since 1990. "It used to surprise me how much the kids knew about drugs; it doesn't anymore.

"But still they'll ask me questions that I don't know the answers to," she said. "They know what's going on out there. I try and help them make the right decisions."

DARE was developed and first implemented by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1983. The Missouri Highway Patrol adopted the program in 1989, assuming the responsibility of training and dispersing DARE officers throughout the state.

The 14-week program has a participation-based curriculum, focusing on peer resistance training, self-concept improvement and value judgments about respect for the law and personal safety.

Dailey and the students exchange information, perform situational skits to teach ways to refuse drugs in public or private settings, and engage in role-playing exercises.

"We're trying to teach them how to deal with individual situations pretty much as they'd occur in their daily lives," Dailey said.

The program comes with a workbook for the students to complete in the classroom with the officer and at home with their parents.

"We're not only teaching kids to say no, but we emphasize self respect and positive things about themselves," she said.

Dailey visits each classroom for 45 minutes, one day a week, in full uniform, minus her gun.

"It's just too distracting to the kids," she said. "The kids' eyes would be glued to my gun, and the first they always ask is if I've ever shot anyone."

Dailey said without her gun she is able to approach the children as an authority figure, yet in an non-threatening manner.

"We reach out to the kids on a very personal basis," Dailey said. "A rapport is developed and the children come to feel very comfortable with me."

DARE has four long term goals: to reduce the supply of controlled substances as a result of reduced demand; more positive identification with police officers; improved decision making in all live situations; and an overall reduction in criminality.

Dailey said that more than 5 million sixth-grade students nationwide will go through the DARE program this year.

"This has really become widely accepted as the way to tell older children about the dangers of drug use," she said. "I have an excellent group of students going through the program this semester; I'm really proud of them all."

Dailey is teaching two classes at Alma Schrader, one at Nell Holcomb, two at Washington Elementary, two at Franklin and one a St. Vincent this semester. She works steadily Mondays through Thursdays traveling from school to school.

"I try to work with the teachers to make scheduling the DARE as convenient as possible for both of us," Dailey said.

"I like doing what I'm doing," said Dailey. "Even though I teach the same lessons every year, the students are different with different personalities, which makes it interesting."