MESSAGE TO TASK FORCE: SAVE DARE IN SUFFOLK

One by one they strode before the legislative task force last
night, all with the same message: Save DARE.

Police officers, educators, parents and children threw their support
behind the controversial drug education program that Suffolk County
officials are considering axing.

The five task force members listened to 22 people speak for 1 1/2
hours in their second public hearing, but had no discussion of their
own.

Young graduates of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, like
Chelsea Cerasuola, 10, pleaded with task force members to maintain the
program, which sends 34 police officials into the classroom for 17
weeks a year to teach students about drug abuse.

"The DARE program is great because if a person tells you to do drugs
and you are in the DARE program it's most likely you will say no," the
fifth-grade student at Eastport Elementary School said. "I love being
in DARE and I hope the DARE program lasts long enough so my sister and
other younger people can experience it."

Last night's hearing was possibly the last one before task force
members make a recommendation to the legislature about the DARE
program, which has been offered in many western Suffolk schools for a
decade.

Task force members are awaiting the results of a $50,000 study
assessing the effectiveness of the program in Suffolk schools.
Researchers at the Center for Policy Studies at SUNY Stony Brook are
conducting the study.

Suffolk Police Commissioner John Gallagher has the power to
independently slash the program, but he has said he wants the
legislature to weigh in on the contentious issue before he acts.

Gallagher, a member of the task force, says the $3.5 million DARE
program is not effective or cost-efficient and should be replaced with
a modified drug education program.

"Study after study has concluded that DARE is not effective as a
drug-avoidance program," Gallagher said. "It just doesn't work.

"I'm asking to get out of a 17-week commitment for 34 officers, which
is of questionable value," he added.

Others disagree.

Legis. Allan Binder (R-Huntington), a staunch DARE supporter, held his
own public hearing Wednesday night with DARE officials "since the task
force never even wanted their testimony."

Binder called the creation of the task force a "sham."

"They were created to give the legislature a report that says DARE
doesn't work," Binder said.

"DARE works," he added. "You can see it in the kids' faces when you go
to these programs and see the relationship they have with the police
officers."

DARE, a national program founded in Los Angeles in 1983, has sparked
debate in communities across the country over the years. Nationwide,
80 school districts use the program, according to DARE officials.

Groups armed with different studies and statistics clash over whether
the program is effective. In February, DARE America officials
announced that the program was being revamped with a curriculum aimed
at older students, news that DARE critics say bolsters their case.

Suffolk County officials remain divided over the issue. County
Executive Robert Gaffney has said he supports Gallagher's proposal,
but District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr. has thrown his weight
behind DARE.

Task force chairman James Canniff, who is vice president of academic
and campus affairs at Suffolk County Community College, said the task
force is charged with having a recommendation by June 30.

"I have some concerns about whether or not we're going to be able to
complete all the work by June 30," he said. "If need be we will
request extra time."