DAREING TO GIVE KIDS THE TOOLS TO SAY NO

Given a speedy printer Castlegar-area elementary students could start
receiving updated tools in early January to help them say no to drugs.

All that's stopping Const. Wally Bursey from launching into the newly
revamped Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is new workbooks,
currently at the printer, that go along with the program.

In addition to updating language and dated materials in the program, and
revamping the workbook, Const. Bursey says the program has been shortened
to 10 weeks from 17. While many police departments wanted to make a
commitment to the program, they couldn't afford to take members off the
street for 17 weeks. Where detachments like Kelowna have dedicated school
liaison officers, here in Castlegar the D.A.R.E. officer "pulls a regular
shift." This coming year Bursey will be the lone member doing D.A.R.E..
Const. Tony Holland has retired from the program and a replacement has yet
to be trained. "For this year it will be just me trying to squeeze in five
classes at three schools," says Bursey.

One item already in place is $3,000 worth of funding from Columbia Power
Corporation that will help pay for course material like the workbooks.
Bursey recalls his early days with the D.A.R.E. program, in Sparwood, where
he had to go door-to-door seeking support for the program. "I had to knock
on business doors, collecting $20 here and $50 there to get what I needed
to run the program." He says the Columbia Power contribution will cover 80
to 90 per cent of what is needed here.

But while Bursey has always been able to find support for the program that
works on developing self-esteem and good decision-making skills for its
young audience, the program has had its detractors over the years. For
those critics Bursey has a stock but rather surprising answer: "We need
D.A.R.E. for parents and we need a parenting course, then we wouldn't need
D.A.R.E. for kids."

D.A.R.E. won't get through to every kid, Bursey says. For some the damage
has already been done, and done by parents. "They hear you. They see what's
going on. But the most influential people in their young lives are their
parents. We can give them all the consequences, but if it's not coming from
home, from the parents. It doesn't matter what you're trying to sell or
what kind of concept you're trying to get across to kids, if it's not being
sold at home then it's going to be a pretty tough sell."

In addition to developing self-esteem and decision-making skills, the
program also serves to develop a positive relationship between students and
the police. Bursey describes how the D.A.R.E. program in Sparwood covered a
broader range of students, starting with a modified program for
kindergarten. Over a three-year span Bursey says he saw every student in
the school. "I couldn't go anywhere where every kid didn't know who Const.
Bursey was - it was good PR for me, it was good PR for every policeman that
worked in Sparwood." "And the benefits of that you can't put a price on.
You can't measure it either."

He recalls having to deal with two students who got into trouble. "They
knew me, I knew them. They knew I was disappointed. They were embarrassed."

The critics may say so what, they still did something wrong, says Bursey.
"They did but at least they had a conscience." Lots of people do one wrong
thing and never do another. "If they don't do it again, there's something
getting through to them."

Bursey would like to get through to parents, too. Parents are being naive,
he says, if they think they can give their kids $20 on a Friday night and
let them go hang out with their friends and think they will be safe.
"That's where the problem starts, the hanging out, that's where peer
pressure kicks in - peer pressure is so powerful."

D.A.R.E. looks at peer pressure and has been revamped to empower kids to
make wise decisions.

Now only if there was a D.A.R.E. for parents to help them do the same.