Pubdate: 29 Jan 2006
Source: Herald News, The (Fall River, MA)
Copyright: 2006 The Herald News
Contact:  http://www.heraldnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3604
Author: Jay Pateakos, Herald News Staff Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

SWANSEA'S DARE CLASS CONTINUES

SWANSEA -- After the death of Swansea's volunteer Drug  Abuse 
Resistance Education Officer Lt. Robert M. Cabral  on Nov. 5, it 
would have been understandable to see the  DARE program be 
discontinued for the rest of the school  year.

But Cabral's fellow officers knew that the lieutenant  would have 
wanted to continue the program for the good  of the students, and 
officers from Somerset and Swansea  have made that a reality.

"After the tragic loss of Lt. Cabral, Somerset Police  Chief Joseph 
Ferreira called us asking what his  department could do to help keep 
our DARE program  going," said Swansea Police Chief George Arruda. 
"Because our own School Resource Officer Shane Mello  was not yet 
DARE-certified, Chief Ferreira said he had  two officers that were 
willing to help keep our (DARE)  program going."

Ferreira gave credit to both Lt. Brian Leonard and Sgt.  Jeffrey Cote 
for initially approaching him with the  idea of the officers 
volunteering their services for  Swansea's DARE program.

Due to the budget cuts that hit the town of Swansea in  2002, Cabral 
had been teaching the DARE classes on a  volunteer basis for the last 
three years and Leonard,  Cote and Mello will continue that tradition.

On Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. at Case Jr. High School,  Mello and 
Leonard made their way into the first DARE  class held in Swansea 
since Cabral's death.

"It's extremely important to be involved with the  youth," said 
Ferreira. "Swansea had a very successful  program and Lt. Cabral did 
an awesome job with it."

Ferreira said that either Leonard or Cote will assist  in teaching 
the classes with Mello until he becomes  DARE-certified.

Arruda said that Mello had called out to DARE to  receive a temporary 
certification as a DARE officer due  to the circumstances behind 
Cabral's death, but because  of the strict qualifications behind the 
international  program, DARE officials refused to grant the request.

"That's why DARE has the reputation it does," said DARE  spokesman 
Scott Gilliam. "This is a very intense  program recognized as one of 
the toughest courses a  police officer can take. We're basically 
taking a  police officer and making them into a teacher."

Gilliam said Mello will have to go through a grueling  two-week, 80- 
to 100-hour training session geared  toward child development, 
classroom management and  communication skills.

"The importance of the DARE program is in the students  seeing police 
officers in a different light than they  might normally," said Mello 
minutes before his first  DARE class. "You hope that these kids come 
away with  the confidence and willpower to make their own  decisions in life."

Case Jr. High Principal Robert Monteiro said the  volunteer actions 
of the three officers will help fill  many voids for the students.

"Starting the DARE program up again is very important  emotionally, 
because many of these students were  looking forward to their DARE 
class with Lt. Cabral,"  said Monteiro. "This will help to close the 
gap,  something Lt. Cabral would have wanted."

In 2005, 36 million children around the world -- 26  million in the 
United States alone -- benefited from  the DARE program. It is 
currently in 80 percent of the  nation's school districts.

"The DARE program is so important in order to empower  these students 
and give them the ability to keep safe  beyond just drug and alcohol 
abuse," said Arruda. "We  all feel a sense of responsibility to 
mentor the youth  of Swansea like Lt. Cabral did. It is through 
his  efforts that we feel responsible to move this program  along."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom