D.A.R.E.

Purpose & Growth

St. Charles Parish implemented Project Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) in 1989, making it the second such program to be instituted in Louisiana. The program teaches youngsters the skills they need to avoid drug abuse, gang life, and violence. Worldwide, 35 million school children will benefit from DARE training.

The overwhelmingly positive response led the department to assign a third deputy to the DARE program. It continues to grow today as fifth and sixth-graders in the parish's public school system accept the challenge to live drug and violence-free.

Overview

DARE is a deputy-led series of classroom lessons that teach children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive, drug and violence-free lives. It teaches children the skills they need to recognize and resist the subtle and overt pressures that may lead them to experiment with drugs and alcohol.

Uniformed officers serve as regular classroom instructors to teach the various DARE curricula. With its message of drug, gang, and violence prevention, the program accomplishes its goals by:

• Building students' self-esteem and teaching them to resist peer pressure
• Providing students with accurate information about alcohol and drugs
• Teaching students decision-making skills and about the consequences of their behavior
• Teaching students how to say no to drugs while providing alternatives to drug use

Officers:

• Corporal Harold Bourgeois
• Deputy Dwayne Chiasson