POLICE DARE PROGRAM HAS COME A LONG WAY

The following is part of a series of articles The Camrose Booster
will publish in the coming months recognizing some of the history of
the Camrose Police Service which is celebrating its 50th anniversary
this fall with a special Police Ball on October 21. This article was
created with contributions from stories published in 1996.

The Camrose Police Service D.A.R.E. program has come a long way.

As the Camrose Police Service prepares to celebrate its 50th
anniversary, the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program
is coming up on its 10th year of operation.

When D.A.R.E. was launched under the direction of then School
Resource Officer Lorne Blumhagen, only two Camrose grade six classes
took part in the comprehensive program designed to provide school
children with the skills to recognize and resist social pressures to
experiment with tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Today, Camrose
Police Service offers D.A.R.E to all grade six classes in Camrose as
well as to grade eight classes in both the public and separate school
systems. In addition, some grade three classes benefit from a short
four-session D.A.R.E program that deals with personal safety,
introduction to drugs and alcohol, and conflict resolution.

In addition, School Resource Officer Craig Ferguson also visits high
school CALM (Career and Life Management) classes for lectures two or
three times each year, and tries to spend as much time as possible in
the schools just interacting with the students.

With as many as three D.A.R.E. classes during their school career,
along with regular interactions with the School Resource Officer,
students graduating from Camrose schools have had plenty of positive
exposure to the Police.

"It builds relationships with the kids. They become used to seeing a
police officer in their schools," explains Ferguson. "Their first
experience with a police officer isn't a negative one, it's a positive one."

The D.A.R.E. program itself has changed somewhat over the years,
moving from a 17-week to a 10-week program. There have also been
several School Resource Officers including Lorne Blumhagen, Rick
Hopwood, Aaron Hamilton, Chris Bennett, and now Craig Ferguson.
However, throughout the years the message has remained constant. It's
all about making positive choices, says Ferguson.

"It's not necessarily lecturing them about what is bad about drugs,
alcohol, and tobacco, but rather just trying to get them to make good
choices," he explains.

Of course, no program has a 100 per cent success and there are still
students who, after going through D.A.R.E., will still make bad
choices about tobacco, alcohol and drugs. But, Ferguson believes the
program has had a positive impact.

"I think educating people is empowering people. Giving people
knowledge makes them more powerful and if you can give these kids the
knowledge then there is going to be more of them making good choices
than bad choices," he states. "It's a positive approach to community
policing, trying to help solve things before they start."