D.A.R.E.
Officer Skip Rasfeld leads the Miami Township Police Department D.A.R.E. program in our local schools. The purpose of D.A.R.E. program is to provide an educational approach to helping children resist drugs and alcohol.
This year, hundreds of children in Miami Township and 36 million school children around the world will benefit from D.A.R.E., the highly acclaimed program that gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence.
D.A.R.E. is a collaborative effort by D.A.R.E. officers, educators, students, parents and the community to offer an educational program in the classroom to increase youth resistance to peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, drug and alcohol. D.A.R.E. gives special attention to the fifth grades to prepare students for entry into junior high and high school, where they are most likely to encounter pressures to use drugs. The program content for D.A.R.E. is organized into 10 weekly core sessions taught by a law enforcement officer. We add three auxiliary lessons for reinforcement. The D.A.R.E. program offers preventive strategies to enhance protective factors - especially bonding to the family, school and community - which appear to foster the development of resiliency in young people who may be at risk for substance abuse or other problem behaviors.
These strategies focus on the development of social competence, communication skills, self-esteem, empathy, decision making, conflict resolution, sense of purpose and independence and positive alternatives to drug abuse and other destructive behaviors.
D.A.R.E. 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