LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD AS TOWN'S D.A.R.E. OFFICER

NORTH HAMPTON - Pity Michael Oliveira. The newest recruit to the North
Hampton Police Department works nights and is sometimes forced to listen to
his beloved Boston Red Sox on the radio instead of watching them on
television with his friends.

But that is the price he pays for being a precociously responsible member
of his community. This North Hampton hometown boy, a 2000 graduate of
Winnacunnet High, has made good (again) by graduating last Friday from the
two-week Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) course offered to
police officers to train them in educating elementary and junior high kids
about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Oliveira, 22, who has been an officer since he was 20 and worked at the
department since he was 16, is prepared to return to the halls of North
Hampton School, the same place where he attended classes as a youngster. He
is excited about becoming more deeply involved in the community that he
grew up in.

"It's going to be great to teach in the place where I learned D.A.R.E.," he
said in an interview. "I would say that I take the job more personally than
other guys because I grew up here. These are my kids, my community where I
live now."

D.A.R.E. is a nationwide program that consists of two courses, one targeted
toward fifth- and sixth-graders, the other at junior high students. Its
intent is to warn children of the dangers and consequences of using drugs
and alcohol and to provide them with the social skills and confidence to
resist peer pressure, enabling them to "Just say no!!"

Oliveira commented on the intensity of the class that he attended. In order
to be accepted, the town chief of police must first nominate an officer,
who then must pass a screening process.

"They teach you to be a teacher in two weeks," said Oliveira, who created a
lesson plan and gave a practice lesson in peer pressure and Refusal skills
at Barnstead Elementary School.

Teaching D.A.R.E. is a new step in Oliveira's life and the latest in a long
history of interest and action in law enforcement and community service. He
said he has wanted to be a cop "forever."

"I always knew I wanted to be one of the good guys," said Oliveira, whose
uncle was chief of police in Salisbury and influenced him early in life. "I
never met him, but my father used to tell really good stories about him. I
always wanted to help people."

He continued, "D.A.R.E. opened my eyes to community policing. I'll be
involved with the PTA, with the school. The department uses you as a tool
for the school." When he was 16, he became an intern at the North Hampton
Police Department and did ridealongs with the officers. "I became so
adapted to the place, I started to do my own computer entries and write
reports. When I got here (as an officer) I was virtually already trained."

In the interim, he graduated from the criminal justice program at Macintosh
College before immediately joining the North Hampton force. He chose to
serve in his own community rather than take a job someplace else.

"It's good having a local kid on the force," he said. "I know a lot of the
kids in town. I'll be a resource. I'm sure I'll be involved in anything to
do with the school and the community."

Oliveira hasn't yet been confronted with the unenviable task of booking (or
not booking) a friend but said, "My friends respect my position."

His first business at the school, he thinks, will be giving safety talks
for Halloween with his partner in school issues, Detective Josh Stokel.
Throughout the fall, they will be responsible for meeting with school
officials and determining the structure of the DARE curriculum and
schedule, which has changed this year from a 17-week program to 10 weeks.

The future is pregnant with possibilities for Oliveira, and he has his gaze
fixed on the horizon. "I really enjoy it here. There's a lot for me to do.
It's something different everyday. There are a lot of (police) schools I
want to attend to be a better cop and a better person.