CITY POLICE DARE-ING STUDENTS

As this year's crop of Heritage City Grade 6 students ready
themselves for the big jump to junior high in September, Nelson City
Police are helping prepare the pre-teens with knowledge they will
need to deal with the struggles of an adolescent world.

In January NCP Constables Bill Andreaschuk and Paul Burkart began the
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program at Central Elementary
and Hume Elementary in an attempt to help lessen the blow of the peer
pressure and tough choices which are inevitable for teenagers.

"Yes there's pressure and I think there will be more [pressure] when
we go to Trafalgar," says 12-year-old Central student Chelsy Buerge.
"It's good that we get this now so that we have time to make choices
and stuff."

DARE began in Los Angles in 1983 and since that time has been
implemented in 80 per cent of schools south of the border and
programs have been developed in 52 countries around the world.

Locally DARE was brought to the NCP by Andreaschuk, who introduced
the program to rural BritishColumbia in 1997 while an RCMP officer in
Prince George. When he signed-on with the NCP this summer,
Andreaschuk brought his enthusiasm for DARE to the local force and
after Burkart took the training they brought the 17-week program to
schools in January.

"The goal of the program is to give children the proper tools to make
informed decisions and also give them the ability to deal with the
peer pressures they are going to deal with throughout the rest of
their lives," Andreaschuk explains.

Most people associate DARE with former U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan
and the whole "Just Say No" campaign which was so prominent in the
mid-1980s. Andreaschuk says the anti-drug message is there, but DARE
goes far beyond illegal narcotics.

"It's much, much more than an anti-drug campaign," he says. "Although
the drug awareness aspect is very important with the program, the
idea is not to just go in and tell the kids that it's bad and don't
do it. We give them the tools to combat all the pressures that are
going to be exhibited upon them to try drugs, to try cigarettes, to
become members of gangs. This isn't just about drugs, it's about
making informed decisions."

Once a week Andreaschuk heads to Central and Burkart to Hume for an
hour of discussion, workbook lessons, role playing and group
activities. It's that time dedication which Andreaschuk says is key
to the success of the program.

"We're not going in for an hour and telling them that these things
are bad and don't do it, then walk away from them," says Andreaschuk,
who spent eight years in the Nelson area as an RCMP. "We're in the
classroom for 17 weeks and we're working with them every week, so I
think it's the prolonged exposure and the trust that is built up
between the police and the students. The message eventually starts to
get through to them."

Andreaschuk says DARE educators are naive and don't expect that every
Grade 6 student who completes the program is going to live a life
free of drugs, alcohol and violence. However, he says research has
proven that the program has had an impact since its inception in 1983.

"It's one of those things where you never dream of having 100 per
cent success," says Andreaschuk, a 26-year law enforcement veteran.
"Some of the kids may show an immediate result, some kids it may not
show up for a few years and others it may not show up until
adulthood, but what we are doing is planting a seed in their mind."

Central Grade 6 teacher Ann McDonnell says the first two months of
the program have been great.

"I think it's really important and I think it's the perfect age,"
McDonnell says. "Hopefully we are catching them before any of this
stuff is a temptation. Anytime you can plant a seed, it's a good
idea."

Teaching kids about the pressures they will face during adolescence
is part of the regular curriculum, but McDonnell says having NCP
officers come in to reinforce the information makes the message that
much more clear.

"Having a police officer deliver the information puts a lot of weight
behind the message," she says.

So far the message does seem to be getting through many of the students.

"Just about everybody will probably need this information some time
or another," says 11-year-old Central student Connor Marisco.

Andreaschuk says not only have students, parents and teachers shown
enthusiasm towards the program, but community service clubs and
businesses have also signed-on. The Nelson Kiwanis Club provided seed
money to get the program going and coming to a street near you will
be a DARE vehicle sponsored by Nelson Toyota and Western Auto
Wreckers.