Pubdate: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 Source: Daily Herald (IL) Copyright: 2004 The Daily Herald Company Contact: http://www.dailyherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/107 Author: Garrett Ordower Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) GENEVA MAY DROP DARE, ADD ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER The Geneva Police Department wants to stop funding the city's DARE program because of finances, not effectiveness. Shedding its full-time Drug Abuse Resistance Education position would allow the department to respond to growth west of Randall Road with another patrol officer and fill a vacant investigator position. By shifting the DARE officer to patrol and hiring one more officer, the move would add $48,000 to the department's annual personnel costs instead of double that amount. "It's not an indictment for or against DARE," Police Chief William Kidwell said. The department would continue to split funding with the district for its unique community intervention specialist position, which runs many anti-drug programs and helps students in crisis situations. It also would make its middle school liaison officer available to help a curriculum with the same goals as DARE, depending on decisions made by the school district, Kidwell said. To help minimize any effects from cutting DARE, the department suggested the district look at Project Alert. The U.S. Department of Education-endorsed program consists of 11 sessions during sixth grade and another three during seventh grade - at a much lower cost than DARE. "It looks to me to be a very effective and well-planned program," Superintendent Michael Jacoby said. Jacoby said the school district has already begun looking at Project Alert and has plans to collaborate with the city and police should the plan to discontinue DARE at the end of this school year go through. Whether the DARE program will return next year depends on whether or not the city council approves next year's budget with the modifications, Kidwell said. The changes would bring the total number of patrol officers from 21 to 22 and investigators from two to three. The department could then create a fifth patrol beat, which would allow it to always have a car patrolling west of Randall Road. "We have two critical needs in the police department that are both growth-driven," Kidwell said. St. Charles has been exploring whether to do away with DARE because of questions surrounding the program's effectiveness. Federal and university studies have concluded that DARE had no significant effect on preventing drug use. In addition to DARE in fifth grade, St. Charles currently offers Project Alert in middle school. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom