DARE LOSING OUT IN METRO AREA Rocky Mountain News December 1, 1998

Police Cite Rigidity Of National Program As Reason For Using Their Own
Approaches

At least four metro-area police departments are dropping their DARE
drug-prevention program, but the program is still growing statewide.

The Boulder County sheriff's office, Boulder police and Wheat Ridge police
are replacing DARE with homespun courses that allow more flexibility.
Louisville police scrapped DARE two years ago.

DARE critics have said the program does little to keep children off drugs
in their formative years. DARE directors dispute that.

Wheat Ridge dropped the 16-week DARE program in June, said police spokesman
Dan Griffin, and replaced it this school year with "Smart Kids, Smart
Choices."

"DARE didn't allow us the flexibility to do what we needed," Griffin said.
"Hypothetically, if one of the kids in a class committed suicide, DARE
didn't allow us to teach on suicides. The system has no flexibility."

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner agreed.

"We wanted to focus on some other things that maybe we couldn't under the
DARE program," Beckner said. "By spending less time with a particular
program, we can do more programs" and reach more children.

Boulder is adding a "No Bullying" course, Beckner said, "where they teach
kids how to resolve disputes and negotiate, not bully each other."

Police in Wheat Ridge and Boulder said they aren't cutting back on their
commitment to fighting drugs in the schools, just shifting resources.

DARE sends police into fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms to teach students
how to resist drugs. Many have expanded it into the middle schools and high
schools.

Russ Ahrens, executive director of the statewide DARE program, said that
only a handful of departments have dropped the program in the last few
years. At the same time, many more are signing on.

In 1996, Ahrens said, 88 police departments in Colorado used DARE. That
figure is now 102.

He defended the program's rigidity.

"It's got to remain consistent for its credibility, integrity and proven
results," Ahrens said.

"If you have a kid in Michigan and they transfer to a school in Wheat
Ridge, they'll be in the exact same spot they were in when they left
Michigan," Griffin said. "It's not a bad thought."

Ahrens said some police departments drop the program to save money, but
they blame the program's rigidity instead.

"If they're interested and have a passion about the drug-related issue in
our society, then they will be interested in what we have to say," Ahrens
said. "Some work within their budgets and strategic planning to make it all
work. Those are the people we want. Š Not the ones on the fence."

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