Since its beginning, DARE has had its share of supporters and critics. It has withstood many accusations, attacks and rumors. While few of the complaints had some merit, the majority has been outrageously incorrect. The media works in mysterious ways sometimes. It can be your best friend or your worst enemy simply with the printing of one article. The classic example when it comes to DARE would have to be the very strong anti-DARE piece that ran in the “Rolling Stone” magazine some time ago. When the sources of the story were held up to scrutiny, the writer admitted that the had made up most of it. Unfortunately, that fact never got anywhere near the attention that the original article did.

Recently, Penobscot County said they were forced to eliminate the DARE program due to tight budget constraints. Since then, some people have mistakenly come to the conclusion that the Bangor Police Department has also lost its program. I am pleased to tell you that we are as strong a DARE program as we ever have been. But should we be?

It is amazing what people think DARE is and what it actually is. It cannot be stated clearly enough that a DARE program is only as strong as the officer that instructs it. If we as adults think back to some of our favorite classes from school, was it because of the subject or was it because the way in which that subject was taught to us that made it so memorable?

DARE by itself is by no means enough drug education for any child. DARE is not a magic wand that drug proofs kids for life. DARE is an education program that teaches children about doing drugs and the consequences of their abuse. The children also learn refusal skills, which are taught using a wide variety of instructional methods. DARE lays a foundation; it does not build a house. It does not make choices for children. The choice to use or not to use comes from within each child. No one else. Many factors play into a child that chooses not to use drugs.

Prevention programs are impossibly to measure accurately. How do you measure all of the times a child said no before he or she said yes? When he or she did say no, didn’t their drug education have something to do with that? (Whatever the source was). Most people who abuse drugs know full well what could happen to them. Most teens that smoke know all the negative things that cigarettes can do to their body, yet they choose to anyway. Can there ever be a prevention program that can change that? Kids are no different than adults when it comes to choices. We all make our own choices. We hope that our children will make educated and smart ones. But when they don’t should we really blame the efforts of the program that tried to help them learn how to make better choices? When a teen gets stopped that first time for speeding, or gets in his or her first fender bender, do we turn around and place the blame on the drivers’ education teachers?

Of course, I could not comment on this topic without a statement or two about our “entertainment” media and the damage that it is doing to children every day. It is a constant encouragement of drugs, sex and violence day in and day out for our kids. We as a nation have never endured such a media blitz aimed at our children, glorifying the very evils we teach against. If we don’t think this is affecting our children we are as blind as blind can be. As one who lectures on this topic nationwide, I have heard thousands of examples from parents, teachers, guidance counselors and officers to verify this fact. We glorify alcohol to our children from the very first time they start watching television, and then we expect them to wait until they are 21 to partake. Who are we kidding?

Find any serious DARE officer and you will find a man or woman who is filled with a tremendous amount of hope. Hope that a child will learn some knowledge about drugs and violence and will avoid these as they grow up. Hope that being in the school for most of the day will mean something to them. Hope that being part of their day will be important. Hope that spending time with them in a non-confrontational way will show them the human side of law enforcement. Hope that other children will have the strength to stop up and get out of a sexually abusive situation because of DARE. Hope that parents will come to the graduation and then continue to build the house on the foundation that DARE has placed. Hope that those same parents will realize their child’s school is safer with a police officer roaming the halls. Hope that a critic really looks at the whole program and not just a statistic that isn’t accurate anyway.

Every year it’s a new chance with new kids and a new group of parents. Every year it’s another shot at some hope. We can never give up hope. Aside from all else, DARE does give each child and each parent within a community that.

Officer Dan Frazell is the DARE officer for the Bangor Police Department.