OFFICER HONOURED FOR BRINGING DARE TO CANADA

As the officer who was tasked to implement the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) program in Alberta, Sergeant Kevin Graham (retired) has
heard all the criticisms about the program.

But forget them, he says. DARE is easily a success.

"The thing is you're going to hear all about the criticisms, but I wish
they had a Web site for all the pros," said Graham, a Sherwood Park resident.

"You talk to the parents in Sherwood Park and they were up in arms when
they were talking about getting rid of it. That tells you that at least the
parents want it. And that's who cater to: the parents and the kids, not the
naysayers."

Last Friday, Graham was awarded the RCMP Commissioner's Commendation for
Outstanding Service for a long career marked by exceptional efforts in
crime prevention and education programs.

He coordinated fund-raising efforts for the 1999 March West program,
fund-raised for DARE, and brought community policing to the Blood Tribe.
Graham was the first RCMP member to be inducted into the Blood Tribe. They
even gave him a headdress, he recalled. "I wasn't a very good fancy dancer
but I was a good chicken dancer."

Later, as a member of the RCMP Edmonton Drug Section, he coordinated a
national training program for clandestine drug investigations.

"When we first started investigating labs we didn't have the proper
protective wear -- the suits, the respirators, the monitoring equipment. We
just went in there and hoped for the best."

But it may have been the DARE program that was his greatest success. In
1995 when he was approached to implement it here in Alberta, he started it
with just three instructors, including Sherwood Park's Const. Kevin
McDonald. At the time, they were the only DARE officers in Canada.

Over the next few years, Graham produced a DARE video, an information
package for local detachments, and travelled to every detachment in Alberta
promoting the program. Now, 14 detachments in Alberta teach the program to
students and there are 700 officers across Canada instructing it.

As for the critics, Graham says they're unaccepting of DARE either because
they would rather push their own drug prevention program or because people
have expected far too much of it.

"Everybody is wanting DARE to be the silver bullet, but it never will be."

At the very least, DARE has been great to increase the contact between
police and the community, he says.

But in accepting the commendation, he did it with humility.

"It's quite an honour, but I think I receive it on all the people who have
helped me."