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DARE Program

DARE Program

 
DARE Vehicle
The DARE Program is a Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program. DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It was developed in 1983 as a cooperative effort of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District to prevent drug abuse among children and youth.
 
While traditional programs focus on the harmful effects of drugs, DARE goes further by helping students recognize and resist the many subtle pressures that influence them to experiment with drugs, gangs and violence. In addition, program strategies are planned to focus on the development of social competence, communication skills, self-esteem, empathy, decision making, conflict resolution, sense of purpose and independence, and positive alternative activities to drug abuse and other destructive behaviors.
 
The program content for DARE is organized into 17 hour-long lessons to be taught by a law enforcement officer. It also contains suggested extended activities to be integrated into other instruction by the classroom teacher. A specially trained officer is assigned to school several days a week for each semester to conduct weekly lessons. Currently, DARE is taught by uniformed law enforcement officials and sheriff's deputies in all 50 states and over two dozen foreign countries. Ten- and 11-year olds are targeted because this is the last year before they move to the middle school. As you can imagine, the introduction of new educational processes, being on the threshold of puberty, and wanting to exercise some independence can place additional pressures upon them. Learning how to deal with these new challenges and pressures is essential in attempting to divert students from experimentation with drugs and alcohol.
 
The Hummelstown Borough Police Department and the Lower Dauphin School District started their cooperative DARE Program in 1997. Seargent Eugene Spencer teaches the courses each fall to sixth-graders at Lower Dauphin Middle School.
 
For more information about the DARE program, please contact Sgt Spencer at the police station by calling 717-566-2555. More information about the DARE program can be obtained by visiting the DARE America website by clicking on the DARE logo below:

 

 
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