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School Resource Officers & DARE |
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(Pictured left to right: Officer Christopher Cinque, Daren
the DARE Lion, Officer Michael Lucibello) |
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The West Haven Police Department maintains both a
School Resource Officer (SRO) and Project DARE
Officers in the West Haven Public School System.
SRO Program:
SRO's are permanently assigned to a school for the school year. These
uniformed officers
are able to maintain a close relationship between the faculty and students as SRO's. SRO's are trained as
both a law enforcement officer and a school resource provider. Their
duties involve counseling, education, and
law enforcement. These SRO's are available to solve
problems through interaction by combining
counseling
with education into traditional police work.
The SRO works closely with
school administrators to enforce criminal laws and school policies through crime
prevention, investigation, and arrest if necessary. A decision on a course of
action for a student is made through a cooperative effort between school
administrators and the SRO. This close cooperation of school and police makes
the students more accountable for their actions while maintaining safety for the
other faculty and students.
Officer Steve McNeil and Officer Simone Blount are the SRO's at West Haven High
School
Officer Brett Schneider is the SRO at Bailey Middle School
Officer Dramous Lofton is the SRO at Carrigan Middle School
Project DARE:
Project D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is a substance use
prevention education program designed to equip elementary school children with
skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, drugs, and
alcohol. This unique program, which was developed in 1983 as a cooperative
effort by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School
District, uses uniformed law enforcement officers to teach a formal curriculum
to students in a classroom setting.
Project DARE gives special attention to fifth graders to prepare students for
entry into Junior High and High School, where they are most likely to encounter
pressures to use drugs.
DARE LESSONS FOCUS ON FOUR MAJOR AREAS:
Providing accurate information about tobacco, alcohol, and drugs.
Teaching students decision-making skills
Showing students how to resist peer pressure
Giving students ideas for alternatives to drug use
This innovative program has several noteworthy features:
DARE TARGETS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN.
Junior high and high school drug education programs have come too late to
prevent
drug use among youth in the past. Therefore, substantial numbers of young people
have reported initiating use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana by junior high
school.
DARE OFFERS A HIGHLY STRUCTURED, INTENSIVE CURRICULUM
DEVELOPED BY HEALTH EDUCATION SPECIALISTS.
A basic precept of the DARE program is that elementary school children lack
sufficient social skills to resist peer pressure and say no to drugs. DARE
instructors
do not use the scare tactics of traditional approaches that focus on the dangers
of
drug use. Instead, the instructors work with children to raise their
self-esteem, to
teach them how to make decisions on their own, and to help them identify
positive
alternatives to tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. The curriculum addresses
learning
objectives in keeping with those of state departments of education and conforms
with health education standards.
DARE USES UNIFORMED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TO CONDUCT
THE CLASS.
Uniformed officers as DARE instructors not only serve as role models for
children
at an impressionable age, but also have high credibility on the subject of drug
use.
Moreover, by relating to students in a role other than that of law enforcement,
officers develop a rapport that promotes positive attitudes toward the police
and
greater respect for the law.
DARE REPRESENTS A LONG-TERM SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM THAT HAS
DEVELOPED OVER MANY YEARS.
Many people believe that, over time, a change in public attitudes will reduce
the
demand for drugs. DARE seeks to promote that change. Equally important, DARE
instructors help children develop mature decision-making capabilities that they
can
apply to a variety of situations as they grow up.
Officer's Mike Lucibello and Christopher Cinque are the current Project DARE
Officers.
Jump to SRO
Jump to DARE
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