DARE WELCOMES NEW COORDINATOR

Students in Grades 6 and 8 attending schools across the Foothills this
September will be seeing a new face during the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) program.

Following the retirement of Const. Geoff Carpenter, who is now the
senior municipal enforcement officer with the MD of Foothills, Const.
Krista Woods of the Okotoks RCMP detachment has been appointed to take
on the DARE coordinator position.

After 19 years of general duty in policing, Woods is looking forward
to making a positive change.

"I am very excited about it. I love working with children and feel
that it is a very worthwhile program," said Woods, who has been
teaching one class at a time for the last two years on top of her
regular duties.

"I have seen the benefits of it. The rapport that the police in
general build up with these kids is pretty strong. It has such a
positive impact."

DARE is a comprehensive prevention education program designed to equip
school children with skills to recognize and resist social pressures
to experiment with tobacco, alcohol, drugs and violence.

The program utilizes uniformed law enforcement officers to teach a
formal curriculum to students in a classroom setting.

Grade 6 and 8 students are given special attention in order to prepare
them for entry into intermediate and high school where they are most
likely to encounter pressure to use drugs. This September, Woods will
be attending public schools throughout the foothills discussing
different options, skills and tools students can use to make healthy
choices when it comes to drugs, alcohol, tobacco and peer pressure.

In addition, Woods will be heading off to Nashville, Tennessee in a
few weeks for training on how to conduct the DARE parent program. The
program is meant to assist parents and caregivers in recognizing
things to look for in their children pertaining to drug and alcohol
abuse, along with current issues such as bullying and crystal meth.

Woods, who moved to Okotoks four years ago from Grande Prairie, hopes
to begin teaching the program in October.

"I will miss certain aspects of general policing, but it's time to
move on and try something different," said Woods. "I feel like I have
lots of experiences to share with the young people and I have lots of
stories to relate to them what I am teaching. Kids really love that."

Woods' appointment coincides with a number of changes made by the DARE
board this year. Up to this point, the program has been coordinated
out of the Okotoks detachment under an agreement with the Town of
Okotoks, but will be operated this year out of the High River RCMP
detachment.

The DARE Works Foothills Society has been operating since 1998 and
works in partnership with the three local RCMP detachments, delivering
the program to approximately 1,100 students per year.