POLICE: KIDS EARN JUNIOR CHIEF DESIGNATION

Drug abuse is no stranger to many third-graders at May Greene Elementary School.

Several of the students in Jeanette Davis' third-grade class told Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. Thursday that they personally knew of people who used illegal drugs.

"My aunt did drugs and she went to jail," one student said following a classroom visit from the police chief.

The May Greene students were among the 335 third-graders in the Cape Girardeau public schools who were sworn in Thursday as "junior police

chiefs."

The students were sworn in by Boyd in separate ceremonies at each of the six elementary schools.

The May Greene class was the first group to be sworn in. The students pledged to be "drug-free and alcohol-free" as well as uphold the laws of the community and be "responsible citizens."

Each student received a certificate signed by the police chief.

Boyd was accompanied by Jeannie Dailey, the Cape Girardeau Police Department's DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer, and Bob Neff of Ford Groves auto dealership.

Ford Groves is sponsoring the Junior Police Chief Program. Neff said it's patterned after one started by a St. Louis auto dealer friend of his.

The students took a delight in being junior police chiefs.

The police are there "to stop people from hurting the law and hurting the yards," 9-year-old Travis Shavers said following the swearing-in ceremony.

Classmate Brandon Johnston said he thinks he would like being a policeman. "It would be fun," he said.

Nine-year-old Doris Wolford said she knows of people who have used illegal drugs. "I stay away from them," she said.

Kevin Allen, 9, said he's "happy" to be a junior police chief. But he has no intention of being a policeman when he grows up; Allen wants to be a doctor.

Chris Smith, 9, has some advice for people: "Don't play with drugs and stuff. They're bad for you."

Britnie Jones, 8, thinks "it's fun" to be a junior police chief. "You can do all kinds of neat stuff and maybe you'll grow up to be a policeman."

Boyd told the May Greene third-graders, "I want you to be model citizens."

He urged them to remain not only drug- and alcohol-free, but also tobacco-free.

Boyd urged the students to set goals and strive to attain them. "If you want to be the chief of police, you can set a goal and you can do that."

The police chief pointed out that there's a difference between illegal drugs and legal drugs such as prescription medicine.

"There are good drugs and bad drugs," he told the children. "The illegal drugs have no place in our society."

Said Boyd, "Drugs are made illegally by people who are interested in one thing money."

In the end, he said, those who sell illegal drugs lose everything.

He cited recent arrests in a drug case involving more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana. "We got their money, almost $100,000. We got their cars. Those were seized. We got them. They're in jail. And we got their drugs," said Boyd.

He told the children that the police are their "friends."

But as to criminals, it's a different story. "If you are a crook or an outlaw, I could be your worst enemy," the police chief said. "I've got a jail full right now."

Dailey said drug- and alcohol-abuse causes many problems. "It causes fights and it causes us to lose our jobs and it causes us to lose our friends," she told the class.

In answer to a student's question, Boyd said there are agencies in the community that can help people who have drug and alcohol problems.