DARING TO DROP DARE

During these times of seemingly reckless drug use and violence among
juveniles, some people may find it shocking that Broomfield police are
dropping the DARE program in the schools. At the same time, others may
be just as surprised that it took Broomfield so long to realize that
DARE wasn't doing the job anymore.

Broomfield is one of the last hold-outs. Boulder, Louisville and
Longmont scrapped the program in the last three years and replaced it
with a more flexible curriculum that is better adapted to changing
times.

We're pleased to see that Broomfield police are following that course
of thinking. In no way are its officers abandoning their
responsibilities to young people. What Broomfield is instituting is a
Cops in the Classroom agenda patterned after what Boulder police and
the Boulder County Sheriff's Office are now doing. The change will
offer a variety of programs dealing with stresses students face in a
confusing world of alcohol, drugs and angry emotions.

DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was
established as a partnership between law enforcement and elementary
and middle schools nationally. It has been operating in this region
since the late 1980s. In the last five years, support began to wane as
questions about the program's effectiveness mounted. While DARE seemed
to put a scare in youngsters, it didn't appear to have a lasting
effect on enough of them. The program also was criticized for taking
too much classroom time away from core instruction. In addition, its
materials and presentation requirements were criticized for being too
inflexible for the varying needs of different students.

Broomfield is doing the right thing by ending DARE. We're sorry,
however, to see a program with such good intentions being dropped. But
we trust the judgment of our law enforcement and educational leaders
in their decision to move on with the times.