Pubdate: Mon, 06 Sep 2010 Source: Detroit News (MI) Copyright: 2010 The Detroit News Contact: http://detnews.com/article/99999999/INFO/71011004 Website: http://detnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126 Author: Christine Ferretti, The Detroit News ANTI-DRUG EFFORT WANING IN METRO SCHOOLS Fewer schoolchildren in Metro Detroit will have officers in their classrooms this fall to warn them about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The latest police department to drop or pare participation in Drug Abuse Resistance Education, Warren is reassigning officers to road patrols. Shelby Township cut DARE for similar reasons but reached a deal last month with Utica Community Schools to preserve a scaled-down version of the course. The police-led classroom series has been dropped from dozens of Michigan departments in recent years. Lincoln Park and Woodhaven police nixed the program years ago. Sterling Heights said the fate of its drug awareness course is uncertain. State DARE coordinator Audrey Z. Martini said 92 Michigan agencies taught DARE to 35,926 students in 438 schools in January. That's down from the 116 agencies signed up in the 2008-09 school year and 128 in 2007-08. Participation for this fall is pending, she said. Another change, Martini says, is that fewer officers are dedicated to DARE full-time. The shift represents the compromise made by chiefs and sheriffs who don't want to drop the program, but need their DARE officers helping with patrols and other assignments, Martini said. Falling tax revenue has forced departments to let vacancies go unfilled or lay off officers. "The change happened as resources started shrinking. The result is less time for fundraising and other DARE-related activities outside the classroom," said Martini, director of outreach for the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Funding for DARE varies for each state and agency. Some use drug forfeiture money; others factor it into departmental budgets, and still others pay for it through fundraisers and donations. In Warren, DARE was part of the department's annual budget. Police Commissioner William Dwyer said DARE was among the cuts he proposed to reduce the budget by about $4 million. Warren had DARE for 18 years and allocated $28,000 for it. Dwyer said the two officers trained to teach the program are now assigned to road patrol. The city is already down 19 positions and with retirements, Dwyer expects that number to double next year. "I am mandated to cut the budget, and I can't cut officers on the road that are responding to 911 calls," Dwyer said. In Shelby Township, DARE is funded through an annual golf outing. But Chief Robert Leman said money isn't the issue: he needs his DARE officer on the road. And that'll happen, he said, since the Utica district has agreed to hire the officer part-time to teach the program. Funding issues forced Lincoln Park Police to drop the program in 2002. Looking at options Schools in Sterling Heights -- including some from Warren Consolidated Schools and Utica Community Schools districts -- will have DARE, for now. But Sterling Heights Police Chief Mike Reese said the program will be evaluated every year. Michelle Pugh, PTA president for Browning Elementary in Sterling Heights, said parents and students love DARE and hope it will be offered. "I would hate to see it go away," she said. If Sterling Heights cuts the program, Pugh's youngest daughter, Cameron, 9, won't benefit. Pugh's son, Connor, 12, graduated from DARE this year. "Everyone deserves a chance to go through the program," he said. Martini said more agencies are looking for alternatives -- such as hiring retired former DARE officers. Others are turning to the Michigan State Police TEAM (Teaching, Educating, And Mentoring) project, a State Police program that supplements a single lesson, not the 10 lessons over 10 weeks like DARE requires, Martini said. Leman said the Shelby Township department's DARE officer will be contracted by the Utica district. "We didn't want to see it go by the wayside," Leman said. "We came up with this solution, and it doesn't impact my road strength." Dwyer said he isn't opposed to DARE but believes the curriculum is "inflexible." In some cases, he added, drug awareness programs tailored to each community are more effective. "There are alternative educational programs for kids," said Dwyer, who developed the program Teaching-Helping-Involving-Noticing-Kids (THINK) as police chief in Farmington Hills. Some criticism Founded in Los Angeles in 1983, DARE is used in 75 percent of the nation's school districts and in more than 43 countries. It's had its critics. In the 1990s, several studies came out attacking the effectiveness of the program's early curriculum, which has since been revised. "I don't think I have ever had a department cancel DARE because they don't think it works," said Chad Hurrle of the Lake County Sheriff's Department, who is a past president of the DARE Officers Association of Michigan. "When a 25- or 30-year-old can still remember who their DARE officer is, you can't tell me it doesn't work." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D