DARE'S FOCUS FADING HERE

ALEXANDRIA - The anti-drug DARE program is giving way to expanded use of
resource officers in Northern Kentucky schools.

It's a broader approach, police say, giving officers the flexibility to
face today's problems.

The Boone County Sheriff's Department stopped teaching DARE - Drug Abuse
Resistance Education - a little over a year ago, said spokesman Tom Scheben.

"Most of what we saw in the Boone County schools was not necessarily drug
or alcohol abuse. It was bullying or date rape, and DARE's strict
curriculum didn't allow us to address those issues," he said.

Many local police departments have gradually phased out DARE, favoring the
resource officer program, which places officers in public middle and high
schools on a part-or full-time basis.

Alexandria Police Chief Mike Ward said his department replaced DARE with
the Character Counts program because he worried that DARE could have the
opposite effect from what it intended.

"In some ways, I think DARE exposed kids to drugs in a way that was
counterproductive. By teaching kids about character, we can help them form
the kinds of habits that will keep them off drugs," he said.

DARE is still alive and well, however, at River Ridge Elementary School and
Villa Madonna Academy, where Villa Hills police officer Mel Wright can be
found two days a week, teaching children how to turn the other cheek when
offered drugs or alcohol.

Wright said he thinks DARE works wonders with kids by helping them connect
with local law enforcement and make good choices in life.

"It's a precautionary method. It reinforces how drugs and alcohol can
change your life and what they can do to you and your family," he said.

Josh Dalton, 19, of Dayton said that method and Wright's instruction helped
motivate him to stay clean and aspire to be a police officer.

"We knew that Mel really cared about us, and we wanted to do our best
because we didn't want to let him down," he said.

Villa Hills budgets roughly $1,200 each year to pay for its DARE program.
It relies on donations to purchase T-shirts for the program's graduates.
Some departments, like Villa Hills, have to self-fund DARE as grants for
the program have dried up.

For Alexandria, the decision to go with school resource officers over DARE
came down to finances and efficiency. The police department shares the
burden of paying for resource officers with the school board. Plus, there's
a member of the police department in the schools whenever a need arises.

"Before this, we had members of our road patrol going to the schools for
three hours each day to deal with problem kids. This is a much better
solution," Ward said.

Boone County Sheriff's Deputy Christine Heckel agreed.

The former DARE officer visits schools on an as-needed basis, teaching
topics ranging from self-defense to seat belt safety.

"This way the schools tell me what they need, and it opens me up, too, to
talk about topics I think need covered," she said.

Even as it disappears from many schools throughout Northern Kentucky and
the United States, DARE's greatest legacy of bringing children and police
officers together will live on, said Jim Sticklen, school resource officer
for Campbell County Middle School.

"It's the relationships we build with the kids that make the difference now
and in the future," he said.