Lone Tree Voice > News
Sheriff: DARE on the bubble
By Rhonda Moore
A longtime Douglas County tradition is about to change as the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office considers phasing out its DARE — Drug Abuse Resistance Education — program.
If all goes according to plan, the elementary school program will be replaced by an outreach geared toward middle school students who are at an age where peer pressure takes on more meaning, said Sgt. Jeff Egnor, Douglas County sheriff’s office supervisor of the DARE unit.
The bigger issues seen by sheriff’s personnel are problems that reach kids at an older age, Egnor said. The middle school age group frequently faces decisions about alcohol and drugs and is more likely to deal with dangers such as Internet predators and teen suicide, he said.
The DARE program came under the microscope when Sheriff Dave Weaver considered how to best use the resources available at the sheriff’s office, said Cocha Heyden, Douglas County sheriff’s public information officer. With a DARE outreach for students in the fifth and sixth grades, Weaver’s work with middle school students persuaded him that his office could have a greater impact by reaching kids dealing with the temptations maturity brings, Heyden said.
“Why not take our resources and put them into the middle schools in an education program tackling some of those things we don’t really address at the middle schools?” Heyden said. “Teen suicides, bullying, all the drug issues. [Weaver] takes to heart the school programs.”
The sheriff’s office DARE program serves those elementary schools in unincorporated Douglas County. DARE outreaches at elementary schools in municipalities such as Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree should continue uninterrupted, said an e-mail from Whei Wong, director of communications for the school district.
While the sheriff’s office DARE program could come to an end at the close of the 2008-09 school year, Castle Rock Police Chief Tony Lane confirms the Castle Rock police plan to continue its outreach into the coming year.
While statistics can’t say how many kids stayed off drugs because of the program, Lane cites more subtle benefits to the outreach that is run by school resource officer Will Harris.
“We know even if no kids were affected by DARE, it still creates an excellent rapport between kids in school and the department,” Lane said. “We like to have that positive contact in the schools — the younger the better.”
The local DARE outreach is supported in part by the Douglas County DARE Foundation, a nonprofit established in 1990 and funded through grants and public and private donations. The foundation comprises members of the sheriff’s office and the Castle Rock and Parker police departments. It is too early in the process to predict the future of the foundation, Egnor said.
The sheriff’s office expects the school district will pick up the slack left by the absence of DARE in its elementary school health curriculum. The sheriff’s office is working with the district to find a way to bring drug awareness education to the elementary-age kids who attend school in unincorporated Douglas County, Heyden said.
At best, the sheriff’s office will offer law enforcement educators as guest speakers at the request of the schools no longer served by a DARE program, she said.
At press time, the school district said only that DARE service will be maintained at the same level in Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree.
“In partnership with the sheriff’s department,” Wong said, “we are working with the middle school health curriculum to infuse a more comprehensive program reaching middle schoolers [who] aren’t already served at the elementary level through municipalities.”
From the standpoint of the sheriff’s office, the real hope is that drug awareness for younger children begins at home, from parents who know their kids best, Heyden said.
“Parents should really be involved at that level,” she said. “We’re just supplementing what parents should really be talking about with their kids.”
“We know even if no kids were affected by DARE, it still creates an excellent rapport between kids in school and the department ... We like to have that positive contact in the schools — the younger the better.”
Tony Lane, Castle Rock Police chief
If all goes according to plan, the elementary school program will be replaced by an outreach geared toward middle school students who are at an age where peer pressure takes on more meaning, said Sgt. Jeff Egnor, Douglas County sheriff’s office supervisor of the DARE unit.
The bigger issues seen by sheriff’s personnel are problems that reach kids at an older age, Egnor said. The middle school age group frequently faces decisions about alcohol and drugs and is more likely to deal with dangers such as Internet predators and teen suicide, he said.
The DARE program came under the microscope when Sheriff Dave Weaver considered how to best use the resources available at the sheriff’s office, said Cocha Heyden, Douglas County sheriff’s public information officer. With a DARE outreach for students in the fifth and sixth grades, Weaver’s work with middle school students persuaded him that his office could have a greater impact by reaching kids dealing with the temptations maturity brings, Heyden said.
“Why not take our resources and put them into the middle schools in an education program tackling some of those things we don’t really address at the middle schools?” Heyden said. “Teen suicides, bullying, all the drug issues. [Weaver] takes to heart the school programs.”
The sheriff’s office DARE program serves those elementary schools in unincorporated Douglas County. DARE outreaches at elementary schools in municipalities such as Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree should continue uninterrupted, said an e-mail from Whei Wong, director of communications for the school district.
While the sheriff’s office DARE program could come to an end at the close of the 2008-09 school year, Castle Rock Police Chief Tony Lane confirms the Castle Rock police plan to continue its outreach into the coming year.
While statistics can’t say how many kids stayed off drugs because of the program, Lane cites more subtle benefits to the outreach that is run by school resource officer Will Harris.
“We know even if no kids were affected by DARE, it still creates an excellent rapport between kids in school and the department,” Lane said. “We like to have that positive contact in the schools — the younger the better.”
The local DARE outreach is supported in part by the Douglas County DARE Foundation, a nonprofit established in 1990 and funded through grants and public and private donations. The foundation comprises members of the sheriff’s office and the Castle Rock and Parker police departments. It is too early in the process to predict the future of the foundation, Egnor said.
The sheriff’s office expects the school district will pick up the slack left by the absence of DARE in its elementary school health curriculum. The sheriff’s office is working with the district to find a way to bring drug awareness education to the elementary-age kids who attend school in unincorporated Douglas County, Heyden said.
At best, the sheriff’s office will offer law enforcement educators as guest speakers at the request of the schools no longer served by a DARE program, she said.
At press time, the school district said only that DARE service will be maintained at the same level in Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree.
“In partnership with the sheriff’s department,” Wong said, “we are working with the middle school health curriculum to infuse a more comprehensive program reaching middle schoolers [who] aren’t already served at the elementary level through municipalities.”
From the standpoint of the sheriff’s office, the real hope is that drug awareness for younger children begins at home, from parents who know their kids best, Heyden said.
“Parents should really be involved at that level,” she said. “We’re just supplementing what parents should really be talking about with their kids.”
“We know even if no kids were affected by DARE, it still creates an excellent rapport between kids in school and the department ... We like to have that positive contact in the schools — the younger the better.”
Tony Lane, Castle Rock Police chief
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