POLICE LAUNCH ANTI-DRUGS PROGRAMME IN SCHOOLS

The 2007 Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programme has kicked
off in all primary schools across the Cayman Islands and it is hoped
that, throughout the year, hundreds of children will benefit from the
training.

Neighbourhood Policing Officer, PC Rob Stewart is delivering his
first DARE course on Cayman Brac after qualifying as an instructor at
the National Air Guard Base in Minnesota.

"I have been assisting with DARE for a while and have now begun
teaching the course to a class of 16 children at Spot Bay School," he
said, adding, "I really enjoy teaching the course and take great
pride in knowing I am helping young people learn about the dangers of
drugs and alcohol."

PC Stewart has also asked the DARE Headquarters in the USA to
recognise his newly formed Little Cayman class as the smallest group
ever to be taught under the programme. "We have two pupils in the
class on Little Cayman and I am pretty sure there has never been a
class so small," he explained.

The DARE programme is a ten week anti-drugs and violence presentation
carried out by qualified police officers in all primary schools in
the Cayman Islands. It aims to teach children, aged 10 -11 years old,
about the risks of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and violence, and
provides participants with the skills needed to avoid and deal with
situations involving any of these dangers.

The DARE curriculum is specially designed for police officers whose
training and experience gives them the background needed to answer
the often-sophisticated questions posed by young students about drugs
and crime. According to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service
(RCIPS) DARE is universally viewed as an internationally recognised
model of community policing.