POLICE AIM AT EDUCATION, NOT 'WAR', ON DRUGS

Officers From Around The Province Meet Here To Discuss Programs For
Schools And Community

Despite the belief of those who would have it otherwise, there is no
'war on drugs' in Canada.

The phrase is an American expression, and describes the philosophical
dictates that guide U.S. law enforcement agencies; it has nothing to
do with the approach taken north of the 49th parallel.

Canadian police forces work more on the basis of being 'fore- armed'
rather than armed when confronting the drug scene, and a great deal of
that fore-arming lies in the area of education.

"Our prime area of concern is the schools," says Chuck Doucette, who
is the RCMP Drug Awareness Coordinator for the province, "then it is
the community, and finally, but of no less importance, the workplace."

Doucette is in the Comox Valley this week for a five day conference of
RCMP drug awareness coordinators and D.A.R.E. officers from around the
province.

The conference, being held at the Kingfisher, is one of two held
annually; one in the spring, and one in the fall.

The spring conference, says Doucette, is the more important of the
two, because that is the one at which they do their annual strategy
planning. The fall is a catch-up, designed to see how concepts growing
out of the spring conference, are faring.

At the local level, the conference is being coordinated by Cst. Barry
Schneider, drug awareness coordinator for Northern Vancouver Island,
and who is stationed in Courtenay.

"Despite the weather, the conference is going really well," Schneider
said Tuesday. "A lot of good ideas are being exchanged, and sessions
like this are excellent in pulling ideas together, and looking at some
approaches that are being taken in other areas.

On Wednesday, attendees were to meet with chiefs of police from around
the province in Campbell River as an aspect of the conference, and
then to continue for the remainder of the week at the Kingfisher. As
far as the schools and the community are concerned, Doucette says
D.A.R.E. is an absolute priority for drug awareness personnel.

"We really want to get the parents involved," he says. "The whole
concept of drug awareness is very much a two-way street. Our program
is much more effective with youngsters if their parents understand
what is going on, and are prepared to become a part of the process."

The business community too must be an aspect of the drug awareness
process if it is to be all-encompassing, and if it is to encourage
changed attitudes to drug use and abuse.

"Substance abuse is a huge problem in the business world, and it's
incredibly costly," Doucette says. "We want to do what we can to
encourage businesses to be proactive in dealing with the problem, and
to establish effective recovery and rehabilitation processes for their
employees. It's ultimately to their advantage to be able to recognize
when a problem exists, and to be prepared to do something about it."

In an educational context, Doucette says the RCMP drug awareness
philosophy calls for media involvement, so that information can be
made available to the public, and communities can get actively
involved in the issues that affect them.

"In terms of our relationship with the media, I'm very impressed by
the sort of reporting I have been seeing," he says. "It makes our work
moreeffective."

In his role, Doucette is the overseer of the area drug awareness
programs. The concept arose with the Canada Drug Strategy of 1987, and
it originally called for only two drug awareness coordinators for the
entire province. "Needless to say, that was not as effective as it
might have been," Doucette says. "It was just too big an area to
effectively cover."

Five years ago, it all changed, and there is now a total of 18 drug
awareness coordinators province-wide, with a senior coordinator
overseeing a larger geographic area. While Schneider's bailiwick is
the north and central Island, he has a counterpart in the southern
Island, and there is a geographic area coordinator out of Victoria
with whom both work.

"Each coordinator now has a small enough area that hands-on work can
be carried out," Doucette says. "It's made a significant difference in
our effectiveness."

D.A.R.E. (which is now in place in a number of Comox Valley schools)
is Doucette's special pride-and-joy. He admits there have been some
negative comments made about the program - predominantly from the
U.S., but that the successes of the police officer-led drug awareness
program in the schools vastly outweigh any negatives that have been
forthcoming.

"I find it a genuinely moving experience to go to a D.A.R.E.
graduation and to hear kids stand up and tell an audience of parents,
teachers and friends what involvement has meant for them," he says. "I
firmly believe the lessons they learn will stay with them, and maybe
will lead to different and better attitudes in society."

Sharon Cooke couldn't agree more. Cooke is the D.A.R.E. coordinator
for the province, and is delighted with the growth of the program over
the last year, and the projected growth that will take place this year.

"We currently have 160 trained D.A.R.E. officers in B.C.," she says.
"There are three more trainings scheduled for the fall, so that means
90 more officers. For the year 2000 we will have added 120 D.A.R.E.
officers."

D.A.R.E., since it is a police officer led program, is not restricted
to RCMP personnel, but also trains municipal police officers to take
part in the process. At the D.A.R.E. program held last September in
Port Alberni, from which four members of the Courtenay Detachment
graduated, there was also one municipal police officer trainee.

D.A.R.E., which originated in the U.S., is not restricted to North
America, Cooke says, but can now be found in 51 countries worldwide,
and is showing no signs of slowing down in its impact. In terms of
qualifying as a D.A.R.E. officer, there are very specific criteria in
place, she says. It's not a matter of an officer just being assigned
to take D.A.R.E. training.

Indeed, the reverse is the case. The officer, him or her-self must
show a serious interest and belief in the idea.

"Of course, it's essential that they really like kids," Cooke says.
"Otherwise, the selection process is pretty stringent." Not only is
there an intensive personal interview process, but the aspiring
officer must also write a heavily scrutinized 1,000 word essay
explaining why he or she wants to be part of the program.

Cooke says that D.A.R.E. undergoes ongoing changes in its process, and
there have been a number of changes (for the better) since she became
involved.

"It's a matter of live-and-learn," she says. One of the changes has
been a call for much more parental involvement in the program and
that, as Doucette observed earlier, has been a profoundlypositive step.

"We don't want this to be a thing in isolation where the parents are
not informed of what is taking place," she says. "We want them to be a
part of it, and to be able to reinforce some of the ideas that come
out of the program. We give the parents some tools, and they can only
be to their advantage."

She cites the fact that many parents do not know where to go or who to
talk to if a child is actively using drugs. They don't want to contact
the police because they're naturally afraid their child will be arrested.

At the same time, the behavior is tearing the family
apart.

"D.A.R.E. can give them some tools to deal with situations like this
in an effective and positive manner," Cooke says. "It also shows
siblings how to deal with a situation where a brother or sister is
using."

Cooke is equally praising of the involvement of teachers in the
program, and says it could never be as effective without them assuming
a positive and active role.

"We work more and more with teachers, and it makes a really effective
partnership," she says. The final spin-off advantage is that the
presence of D.A.R.E. in the schools defuses any kids versus police
adversarial situation, and the police officers not only come to be
seen as human beings, but as a resource that is there to help the kids
with their lives, not to give them a hard time.

"Now you get kids who are proud to introduce their D.A.R.E. officer to
parents and friends," Cooke says. "It's just great."