The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is an internationally recognized, model program created in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Lancaster Police Department D.A.R.E. program has been in existence since the early 1990's.

Our local D.A.R.E. program provides students in fifth grade with the skills necessary to recognize and resist pressures to experiment with drugs and to avoid gangs and violence. Lessons emphasize self-esteem, decision making, interpersonal communications skills, the consequences of drug abuse, conflict resolution and positive alternatives to substance abuse.

The most important facet of D.A.R.E. is the use of specially trained police officers to deliver the curriculum within the schools. Police officers are accepted as authorities on drug abuse, as they deal with drug abuse and its consequences on a daily basis. Last year, over 600 Lancaster and St. Mary elementary students completed the D.A.R.E. curriculum.

In order to be certified to instruct D.A.R.E., a police officer is first interviewed by a panel of police executives, D.A.R.E. Officers and school administrators. If approved, the officer must then complete two weeks (80 hours) of intensive training by an accredited training center.

Ohio's D.A.R.E. program is sponsored by the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the Law Enforcement Foundation.

Officers are trained by the Law Enforcement Foundation. The Law Enforcement Foundation has the sole permission to train D.A.R.E. Officers in Ohio.

(Source - Ohio D.A.R.E. website, 2010)