SAFE PROGRAM TO REPLACE DARE

"Substance Awareness For Empowerment" Will Now Be Taught

Township middle school students will no longer participate in the
10-week Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, and will instead use
the Substance Awareness for Empowerment program, which was designed by
the township Police Department.

Patrol Officer Gene Rickle, who has worked as a DARE officer and a
school resource officer since 2000, developed the new four-week
program and wrote the manual that the children will use during the
class.

All township middle school students will participate in the program,
slated to start in the beginning of October, Officer Rickle said.

South Brunswick police Chief Raymond Hayducka, said there were no
specific problems with DARE, but that he wanted to use a program
designed specifically for South Brunswick students. In addition, Chief
Hayducka said the program, which is only four weeks long as opposed to
the 10-week DARE program so it would allow officers to spend more time
on township roads.

The SAFE acronym has two meanings, it is the name of the class and the
method in which the kids would be taught to help make decisions
regarding tobacco, drug and alcohol use and to deal with peer
pressure, Officer Rickle said.

The children will learn to "Specify" what the problem or situation is,
"Assess" their options, "Formulate" a response and "Evaluate" the decision.

Officer Rickle said SAFE will present information about drug abuse and
peer pressure with facts about the drugs to help the children make an
informed decision to just say "No." " It approaches the topics in a
different way than DARE," Officer Rickle said. "The kids are taught to
make a decision. We use a decision-making model and provide facts
about the various substances to empower kids to make the right decision."

George Scott, South Brunswick school district director of Student
Services, said the program is also a way to get kids used to being
around police.

"It helps build relationships whenever the police are present," Mr.
Scott said. "The kids become more comfortable with police and can help
them deal with issues such as bullying and drug and alcohol abuse."

Mr. Scott said the school district approved the program and met with
police in July to go over how it would be run.

"We sat with them in the beginning of June and talked through the
concept with the central office and both middle school principals to
make sure everyone was comfortable with the new process," Mr. Scott
said.

Chief Hayducka said the program will require two officers to work with
the children, as opposed to the five needed for DARE.

"The key is that we are going to be able to provide a better level of
serve at a reduction of man hours," Chief Hayducka said. "We are going
to use two officers instead of five so we can get more officers on the
roads, which is a goal of mine."

Chief Hayducka said that one of the reasons why SAFE was specifically
was designed for South Brunswick students is because it can be updated
to meet real life situations as they arise.

"It can be altered at any time," Chief Hayducka said. "So if a new
drug pops up in town, we would be able to add it into the program."