PLANO POLICE OPT FOR ALTERNATIVE TO DARE

New Elementary Program Cheaper, More Flexible, Officials Say

The Plano Police Department has replaced the DARE program in Plano
elementary schools with one that is cheaper, shorter and, officials
say, is more flexible and relevant to students' lives.

School liaison officers stationed at middle schools started traveling
to elementary schools last week to teach the Law Enforcement Teaching
Students program to fifth-graders.

LETS, developed by the Dallas Police Department and school district,
is a six-week program that teaches children everything from the
dangers of drugs to self-confidence, decision-making and bullying.
More than 30 cities in the state teach the program, including Dallas,
Garland, Mesquite and Richardson.

"We just feel that LETS is going to fit our circumstances better at
this time," Plano Police Chief Greg Rushin said. The program will be
used at the 33 district elementary schools within city limits.
Students will have six weekly 45- to 50-minute classes. DARE programs
consist of 10 classes.

Chief Rushin said budget constraints forced him to drop DARE after the
2001-02 school year. Last year, the department had no anti-drug
program in the schools.

Chief Rushin said LETS offers more diverse lessons than Drug Abuse
Resistance Education, or DARE. It's also much cheaper. The Police
Department won't have to pay for officer salaries, and the materials
and training don't cost as much as in DARE, officials said.

DARE competitors have popped up in communities throughout the country,
said Ralph Lochridge, spokesman for the organization. Whether the
program is effective - or even counterproductive - has been debated
for years, but Mr. Lochridge said the reason many districts have opted
out is for financial constraints because of the poor economy. He said
the research that goes into developing the DARE program makes it
better than its rivals.

"I guarantee you that this program will ultimately continue to be the
best in the country," said Mr. Lochridge, who could not provide
statistics about districts that have dropped the program.

DARE, which began in 1983, reached 83 percent of U.S. school districts
at its peak. Mr. Lochridge estimated the figure is now between 75
percent and 80 percent.

DARE began in Plano with a pilot program in one school in 1991,
eventually reaching all city elementary schools.

By 2001-02, the program cost the Police Department more than $310,000.
The vast majority of that cost was to pay salaries for four full-time
police officers who traveled to each of the schools.

Because the city will be using its existing police force to teach
LETS, it avoids the cost of officers whose only job is anti-drug
instruction. The change means the officers will spend fewer hours in
the middle schools.

The officers will work in elementary schools that feed into their
middle school.

"By the [liaison officers] going into the feeder schools, this enables
the students to go ahead and get to know the officer ... preparing
them for the middle school transition," said Mark Hinshaw, director of
security police services for the district.

Plano police Sgt. Gary Mills, who supervises the officers in the LETS
program, said he was concerned at first about the change.

"This is an added burden, and it takes the [liaison officer] out of
the middle school," he said.

Sgt. Mills said he learned during training that once the class starts,
it becomes so rewarding that officers don't complain. He said he is no
longer concerned.

He said he's had nothing but positive feedback from the three officers
who began teaching last week at Memorial, Wyatt and Wells elementary
schools. Other schools will start the program this week.