DARE OFFICER TALKS ABOUT WHY HE BECAME A COP

Marcus Neidner used to watch his friend's dad, a police officer, get
ready for work. What little boy isn't fascinated by all that police
and firemen represent in our daily lives - courage, the shiny badge,
sirens...

While for most it's a passing phase, for Marcus Neidner, the time he
spent at Brian McMaster's house in his hometown of Gardiner left a
lasting impression. He was at the house a lot because McMaster's wife
was his babysitter. McMasters is now head investigator for the state
attorney general's office.

As a youth, Neidner met Maine State Trooper Mike McCaslin when he got
interested in helping out the West Gardiner Fire Department. McCaslin
was a member of the volunteer department.

"I used to ride with him when I was about 16," Neidner says. "I saw
what it was all about - how he related to people, how he knew what to
do."

Those childhood experiences led him to pursue a career in law
enforcement. He began working as a police officer in Wiscasset two
years ago, taking on the role of DARE officer in the schools as well.

Neidner will be leaving the department soon, the result of a June 13
vote by residents, which turned down the police department budget
(although a petition effort is underway to take another vote on the
original budget; see related story).

Neidner says he thought after he bought his house in Wiscasset he
would stay here until he retired - and he may continue to live here,
if he finds another job close to home.

One of the aspects of his job he liked most was his position as the
town's DARE officer. The national program has become so familiar that
many no longer remember that DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance
Education.

Neidner describes his DARE two week training as "the most intense
course I've taken since the police academy."

Among the topics covered are the philosophy of teaching, different
ways children learn, the physiology of drugs, and how to teach team
building. Lesson plans and homework often kept him up until midnight,
he says.

"One of the things I tried to do is get the kids to work together as
a team," he said. "This is where positive peer pressure comes into
play. If you get a couple of natural leaders in the group, they can
really influence the rest of the kids."

"There's always one or two who don't want to get involved, or just
want to disrupt what's going on. Sometimes that can be stopped by
putting them in a different group.

While primary school children are mostly "wowed by the shiny stuff
like the badge and the police car," middle school students usually
want to know how it feels to try different drugs.

"I teach them what the negative effects of drugs are," he says,
including cigarette smoking. "I tell them to go look at a piece of
tar, and tell them that's what their lungs will look like if they
smoke."

When the students talk about their parents smoking, he says, "Your
mom and dad are adults - but you're under age. I tell them I hope
they make the right decision when they are old enough to smoke.

The state's anti-smoking ads have apparently had an impact, he says.
MTV used to have effective anti-smoking ads as well, but he says they
aren't aired as much anymore.

Kids ask him about huffing, or inhaling household chemicals, solvents
or cleaners - the drugs that are most accessible to them.

"I tell them the truth - they cut down on the oxygen that's going to
their brain. And they're very dangerous."

His presence in the schools has made him "very approachable" by the
students, he says.

"A lot of them will make a point of coming up and talking to me," he
says. Asked if any of the students have told him about situations at
home or elsewhere that potentially put them in harm's way, he said
there have been a few instances. When this has happened, he talks to
the administrators of the school, and almost always, they are already
aware of the situation, he says.

Neidner says it's difficult to measure the effect the DARE program
has had on the students at the three schools he has visited regularly.

"I have had kids come up to me a year after the DARE program and tell
me they were able to say no to drugs. Even to have just one kid say
that - it's enough for me to know that even one kid stayed off drugs."

Although there are horrific aspects of being a police officer, such
as seeing a two year old child dead from a car accident, Neidner says
the good parts of the job outweigh the bad.

One of the things he didn't expect when he became a police officer is
all the roles he would play.

"I'm an accountant, a writer, a counselor, a friend, a shoulder to
cry on - we wear a lot of different hats. Oh, yes, and sometimes I'm
changing a tire."

Police still do that?

"Yes," he said, "if I have the time, I'll pull over and help them."