POLICE BEMOAN LOSS OF D.A.R.E.

Local educators and law enforcement are lamenting the loss of DARE
programs in the county, the victim of lean economic times and changing
attitudes.

Since 1991, the county Sheriff's Office had been sending deputies into
classrooms to spread the drug-prevention message behind DARE, which
stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Deputy April Murray
visited about a dozen elementary schools last year, showing kids the
consequences of using drugs and teaching them ways to say no.

Drug and substance abuse "is a problem in Santa Cruz County, just like
any other county," Murray said.

But a lack of money has led Sheriff Mark Tracy to shelve the DARE
effort, meaning May's graduation ceremony for elementary schools
students who finished the program may have been the last.

It was "purely a financial decision," Tracy said. "I had no choice
because there was no money."

But Tracy also added that DARE may have been burdened by the
"overexpectation about what this program could accomplish."

DARE critics across the country question the program's effectiveness
in steering children away from drugs and alcohol. They say evidence
suggests the message delivered to grade-school students doesn't stick
with them as they advance into their teens.

The Capitola Police Department ended its DARE participation more for
that reason, the result of local school officials deciding to
implement research-based drug-prevention programs, said Capt. Mike
Card.

"It's a shame," said Card, adding that Capitola was the first local
law-enforcement agency to offer the program.

In schools countywide, Murray extolled not only the virtues of zero
use, but talked to kids about other issues including school
attendance, violence and self esteem.

Jackie Thornhill, a sixth-grade teacher at Mar Vista Elementary School
in Aptos, said Murray was a "positive presence" in the classroom.

Having an officer take an hour to talk about the dangers of alcohol
and drugs works because teachers "don't have the credibility a police
officer has," she said. Officers have stories and engaging reasons not
to use these substances that the students pay attention to, she said.

"It makes a real impression," she said. "The program affects them in a
really positive way."

Thornhill hopes DARE can be reinstated at some point, as does
Tracy.

DARE programs typically are funded by community police grants or asset
seizures. The Sheriff's Office originally had two DARE officers - one
funded by county revenue and the other by asset seizures. The county
revenue-funded program ended a while ago, and the sheriff's 2004-05
budget reflects a reduction in asset seizure funds.

Scotts Valley plans to continue its DARE drug-prevention program, even
though the police department is short-staffed. The program reaches
Scotts Valley High School, Scotts Valley Middle School, and three
elementary schools, with an officer teaching drug-prevention lessons
to fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders during the school year.

Two police positions are frozen due to city budget cutbacks, so police
administrators may find themselves responding to calls if an officer
on patrol is teaching at a school.

"Our department as a whole feels it's really important," said Sgt.
Donna Lind. "We don't want to see it go."

The Watsonville Police Department ended its 10-year DARE program two
years ago because of funding and it became "really tough to get
classroom time," said Capt. Eddie Rodriguez.

It became increasingly harder for schools to make time for the program
because of the mandated school curriculum, he said.

Now schools integrate gang and drug prevention into their lesson plans
instead of having a separate program, he said.

The Santa Cruz Police Department has never had a DARE program. It is
"one of those things we haven't had time to do," said officer Jim Howes.