DARE INITIATIVE WILL REACH OVER 850 LOCAL STUDENTS

With students back at school, the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)
program also returns to the classrooms.

Around 850 students in Fort Saskatchewan and area schools will be receiving
RCMP delivered instruction on the subject of drugs and related issues at
some point in the year.

New to the program is the addition of the John Paul II CALM (Career and
Life Management) class which consists mainly of grade 10 students and the
Grade 6 class at Chipman.

Last spring saw the introduction of high school DARE to the community with
Const. Helen Meinzinger presenting the 10-lesson course to three classes of
Fort Senior High students.

This term, she will be teaching 10 classes between the two high schools.

After graduating four classes to date from the program, Meinzinger is very
upbeat in regards to the impact it seems to be having.

Students complete an anonymous questionnaire at the end which, for the most
part, indicate a good acceptance of the program.

"The comfort level amongst students seems high and most of the feedback is
positive," she comments.

At the end of a class, Meinzinger says she will open up the floor to
questions and gets a wide variety of queries on subjects both in the
program and not.

She's also had a few students approach her one-on-one to ask advise on
various issues of concern.

Some of the students currently receiving high school DARE have been exposed
to the program when they were in grade 6, the first students in this
community to receive the education in 1996.

However, what is delivered is not a repeat, but a more mature and expanded
version.

Although the subject of drugs is of course a large part of the program, so
are a number of other issues such as violence and anger management.

With the presence of a police officer in the school on a frequent basis,
Meinzinger feels rapport with young people is improving.

"We're beginning to be seen as more than just cops," she comments. DARE
will be offered at all Fort Saskatchewan schools as well as Bruderheim,
Lamont and Chipman at various times during the school term.

Const. Lea Turner, one of the first trained DARE officers in the province,
will teach the grade 6 classes at Fort Elementary and James Mowat as well
as grade 7 students at Fort Junior High, Rudolph Hennig, and Our Lady of
the Angels.

The balance of the grade 6 classes will be covered by Const. Pauline
Larrey-King at Pope John XXIII, Const. Meinzinger at Win Ferguson, Const.
Al Rybka at Our Lady of the Angels and Rudolph Hennig, and Const. Rob
Landers for Bruderheim and Chipman. The instructor for Lamont Grade 6 is
yet to be announced.

As the DARE coordinator, Turner says the program's acceptance is encouraging.

"We can be proud of the coverage we've managed to achieve," he notes.

"Student comments have been favourable and there exists a great working
relationship with the school teachers and administration."

DARE is one part of the ambitious goal of keeping Fort Saskatchewan a safe
and caring community, Turner adds.

Turner and Meinzinger are both part of the Canada DARE Training Unit(AB)
which trains fellow officers in becoming DARE instructors.

DARE has been supported financially since its 1996 inception in Fort
Saskatchewan by Dow Canada. Last year, the Fort Saskatchewan Elks came on
board as a contributor.