LAFAYETTE POLICE CANCEL DARE PROGRAM

The Lafayette Police Department announced today that it will drop the
DARE program and instead will focus on beefing up its school resource
officer program. Cpl. Mark Francis, spokesman for the Lafayette
Police Department, said the department decided to discontinue the
program after consulting with the Lafayette Parish School Board.

"See what's happening is, around the country everybody's moving to
the school resource program," he said. "We don't have the officers to do both."

Francis said the department had three DARE officers who traveled to
various middle schools around the parish throughout the school year.
This fall, he said, the department will take those three officers and
place them into a school resource position, bringing the total number
of resource officers to four.

"It was a mutual agreement," Francis said. "That's where the
resources are, and that's what is needed in the school system."

Last year, N.P. Moss Middle was the only school with a resource
officer, he said. They are working out where the officers will be
stationed this fall, he said.

Francis said the DARE program only provided for "drug abuse
resistance and education" and focused solely on sixth-grade students.

"Whereas ... from the resource perspective, we're going to be able to
get more bang for the buck, because the officer is going to be the
total resource for the campus.

"He's going to be responsible for being the liaison for police and
the school system and also he is the police officer, he is the
investigator, he is the counselor, he is the total resource."