Project DARE is a substance use prevention education program
designed to equip elementary school children with skills for resisting gang pressure and pressure to experiment with tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. This unique program, which was developed in 1983 (and revised in 1993) 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 and sixth grades to prepare for entry into junior high and high school, where they are most likely to encounter pressure to use drugs.

• 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 uses uniformed law enforcement officers to conduct 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 the students in a role other than that of law enforcement, officers develop rapport that promotes positive attitudes toward the police and greater respect for the law.

Core Curriculum
The DARE core curriculum targets fifth-grade elementary school students who will be graduating into junior high at the end of the year. The curriculum consists of seventeen 45-to 60-minute lessons to be conducted by the DARE officer on a weekly basis. The lessons are structured, sequential, and cumulative. They employ a wide range of teaching strategies that emphasize student participation, including collaborative, group discussion, and role-play activities. The curriculum is designed to equip students with skills for recognizing and resisting peer influences and other pressures to experiment with substances. In addition to building refusal skills, the lessons focus on the development of self-esteem, risk assessment and decision-making skills, interpersonal and communication skills, critical thinking, and the identification of positive alternatives and substance use. The DARE curriculum is available only to those officers who have completed certified training.

Classroom Instruction
Typically, officers are assigned to each school for a full day. Thus, one officer can serve up to five schools per week per semester or ten schools in a two-semester school year. It is critical that the D.A.R.E. Officer has sufficient time to prepare and instruct the 17-week course.

The DARE training curriculum includes:

• An overview of current drug use prevention activities
• Communication and public speaking skills
• Learning methodology and classroom behavior management
• School/police/parent community relationships
• Stages of adolescent chemical dependency
• Audio-visual techniques and other teaching aids
• Program administration
• Sources of supplementary funding

The most important component of the training is the modeling of each lesson by experienced DARE officers (or "mentors"). Each trainee then prepares and teaches on lesson to fellow trainees, who play the role of fifth-or sixth-graders, and who subsequently evaluate the officer's performance. Mentors advise and support trainees throughout the training, by helping them prepare for presentation and offering suggestions for improvements.

DARE Lessons
The DARE curriculum is organized into 17 classroom sessions conducted by a uniformed police officer, coupled with suggested activities taught by the regular classroom teacher.
A wide range of teaching strategies are utilized, including: cooperative learning, role-play, and workbook exercises, all designed to encourage student participation and response.

The following are brief summaries of selected D.A.R.E. lessons.

• Building Self-Esteem. Poor self-esteem is one of the factors associated with drug misuse. How students feel about themselves results from positive and negative feelings and experiences. In this session students learn about their own positive qualities and how to compliment other students.
• Assertiveness: A Response Style. Students have certain rights – to be themselves, to say what they think and to say no to offers of drugs. The session teaches them to assert those rights confidently and without interfering with others’ rights.
• Media Influences on Drug Use and Violence. The DARE officer reviews the ways media influences the way people think, feel, and act about drug use and violence. Students will develop skills to  recognize and analyze these media influences.
• Decision-Making and Risk-Taking. Students learn the difference between bad risks and responsible risks, how to recognize the choices they have, and how to make a decision that promotes their self-interests.

Selection of D.A.R.E. Officer Candidates

A. PURPOSE
To establish guidelines for selecting a D.A.R.E. officer candidate who will maintain the integrity of the D.A.R.E. program.

B. POLICY
A D.A.R.E. officer must be a full-time, uniformed police officer, meeting the minimum training standards for peace officer status in their state of residence, andwho has completed a minimum of two years as an officer. Additionally, the D.A.R.E. officer candidate's police agency shall have a memorandum of understanding with their school district(s) to teach D.A.R.E. after completion of the candidate's training. **

C. PROCEDURE

1. The following list delineates specific areas, which shall be considered when selecting a candidate.

• a. Demonstrated ability to interact and relate to children.
• b. Oral and written communication skills that are adaptable to age-specific audiences.
• c. Ability to organize.
• d. Responsiveness to instruction.
• e. Ability to develop personal relationships.
• f. Promptness.
• g. Exemplary role model in both formal and informal situation.
• h. One who refrains from sexual, racial, stereotyping, or inappropriate and insensitive remarks.
• i. Flexible and able to handle the unexpected.
• j. Committed to careful replication of the program model.

2. A D.A.R.E. officer must be a full-time uniformed police officer, meeting the minimum training standards for peace officer status in his/her state of residence.

3. A D.A.R.E. officer must have completed a minimum of two years full-time service as a police officer.

4. The D.A.R.E. officer candidate's police agency shall have a memorandum of understanding with a school/school district to permit the candidate to teach after completion of the candidate's training.

5. It shall be the responsibility of the training center or statewide coordinator to screen all applicants to ensure that the minimum selection criteria is met.

**Written Agreement

Implementation of DARE requires a partnership between law enforcement and education systems. A written agreement between law enforcement and school officials demonstrates each agency's commitment to Project DARE and defines their respective roles. This agreement generally includes:

• A statement of their mutual commitment to implement DARE as a strategy to prevent substance use among children
• The law enforcement role: to assign in a non-law enforcement role a qualified officers who will teach the DARE curriculum in the schools
• The school role: to provide classroom time for lessons, coordinate scheduling, and encourage teachers to support and reinforce classroom activities
• Program scope: the grade(s) to be targeted and the number of schools and students to be reached
• Specification of the agency responsible for providing such resources as student workbooks and films
• Specification of the agency responsible for program oversight
• Procedures for regular communication between the two agencies

Officers who attend DARE training are required to present, in uniform, a DARE lesson to an elementary class on the second Thursday of training. No visible weapons will be allowed in the elementary classroom.