DEPUTY NAMED DARE OFFICER OF YEAR

With 23 years as a DARE officer, Deputy Chris Griffith is pretty sure
he has the most experience teaching "resistance skills" to
fifth-graders of any officer across the country - or the world, as
the program is international.

Now, he has a plaque to prove he is the "DARE Officer of the Year" in Nevada.

He received the award March 22 at the state DARE officers' convention
in Winnemucca.

"It was a secret and a complete surprise," he said in an interview
Thursday from the office he shares with Youth Services Officer Teresa Duffy.

With 34 years in law enforcement, Griffith, 59, said he is a big
believer in prevention.

DARE is an acronym for Drug Abuse Resistance Education which is what
Griffith and Duffy teach to every fifth-grader in the Douglas County
school system every year.

"I would rather teach kids to behave than arrest them and hope they
wake up and fly right," he said.

"I totally believe in prevention and getting kids ready for
challenges," he said. "It's a guarantee that somebody somewhere is
going to confront children about drugs. Kids in the past didn't have
the skills.

In addition to DARE, the Youth Services Office teaches A Fighting
Chance to educate children about abduction prevention and GREAT, Gang
Resistance Education and Training, for seventh-graders.

Griffith became a DARE officer in Orange County, Calif., in 1984, and
joined the Douglas County Sheriff's Office in 1995.

"I'm the oldest, longest, still-standing DARE officer in the world,"
Griffith said. "I couldn't tell you the number of kids I shake hands
with, pat on the back or hand out diplomas to."

Griffith said there is nothing he would rather do.

"I'd teach in a tent if I had to," he said.

He plans to retire Aug. 1, but is looking at continuing as a youth
services officer on a part-time contract.

"I'm a huge believer in education," he said. "I have a master's
degree and a teaching certificate. Teaching runs in the family. My
mother was a teacher, my father was a doctor, but taught at medical
school. My wife Yvette teaches at Eagle Valley Middle School."

Griffith gave credit for the programs' success to the school district
and Sheriff Ron Pierini.

Active in state and national DARE officers' organizations, Griffith
hears stories about districts and communities that cut the drug
education program because of budget shortages.

In the long run, it's cheaper to keep the programs going, Griffith said.

"If you lock up one kid for a year, that's $30,000," he said. "For
that, I can fund a program and half an officer."

Griffith said 80 percent of the school districts in the United States
offer DARE programs. The communities which drop DARE often regret it
after a couple of years.

"If you wait for drugs to be a problem, then start the DARE program
again, it's a catch-up thing," he said. "You're chasing the problem
and you might never catch up."

Griffith said Pierini's commitment to the youth services program is
why Douglas County has a successful prevention rate.

"We're the only county in the state that meets with every kid in the
school district for three years in a row - fifth-, sixth- and
seventh-grades," he said. "If you lose your kids, you don't have a
community. You're only as strong as your kids."