OFFICER `DARES' STUDENTS TO RESIS TEMPTATION

The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is a collaborative effort by certified law enforcement officers, educators, students, parents and local governments to offer classroom instruction on how to prevent or reduce drug abuse among youth.

The program, which was started in Los Angeles in the 1980s, is generally perceived as successful and can be found in elementary schools across the nation.

Fifth- and sixth-grade students are taught how to recognize and resist the many direct and subtle pressures that influence them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants and other drugs. The program also takes on the tough subject of violence -- students are taught the benefits of peaceful resolutions of conflicts.

Sgt. Howard Hammers of the Jackson Police Department is dedicated to the DARE program, and a great deal of his time is spent in five area schools delivering the gospel.

"I got into this job (law enforcement) to help people, and if somewhere down the line a kid tells me they turned down drugs because of the program, it's all worth it," said Hammers, adding that a young student recently told him she was able to convince her parents to stop smoking cigarettes. "She was happy as a lark."

Hammers, who was a reserve police officer at Cairo, Ill., before moving to Jackson in the late 1980s, is in the middle of the 17-week DARE program.

He teaches sixth-graders at West Lane Elementary in Jackson, North Elementary in Fruitland, Burfordville Elementary in Burfordville and St. Paul Lutheran in Jackson. He teaches fifth-graders at Immaculate Conception in Jackson.

There are 370 students in 12 classes and they are all, says Hammer, enthusiastic about the program.

"They'll say, 'Sergeant Hammers is here, Sergeant Hammers is here!'" said Hammers, smiling, while showing a reporter a batch of letters students had recently written to the City Council, thanking the council for funding Hammer's salary. The state funds the teaching materials and the training for DARE officers; there are about 450 such officers in Missouri.

Hammers, 33, received his first two-week training session in September 1992 and attended another training session last August, both times at the Highway Patrol Academy in Jefferson City. He began teaching in January 1993.

The training, says Hammer, is intensive: "It focuses on the art of public speaking, delivery of lessons and classroom behavior."

His teaching manual, called a core curriculum, is about 130 pages of information. Students are given workbooks, and there are booklets available for parents.

Lessons center around such things as the harmful effects of drugs to the legal consequences of getting caught with them. Students are encouraged to have healthy self-esteem, and are advised of methods to handle stress.

"At the end of each program I have a little ceremony and each kid gets a T-shirt as a kind of incentive to pay attention and do good in class," said Hammers.

The media are a big factor in influencing kids and Hollywood movies and advertisers don't always tell the whole truth.

"They make it seem like going out and drinking beer looks like it's a wonderful time, but they don't show the side of people getting arrested when driving home, or getting injured in car accidents," said Hammers.

Role playing is a part of the DARE program. Students have skits in which they're taught the proper way of turning down offers of drugs.

Also, they're taught how to avoid getting in circumstances that could result in such things as stealing and violence.

"I try to help students understand why they shouldn't do the things that others are telling them it's neat to do," Hammers said, pointedly.

Hammers emphasizes to the students the importance of a good sense of self-esteem. In one lesson, students are given a picture of a license plate and are asked to "personalize" it by writing something good about themselves.

"Low self-esteem puts them more at risk of falling into drugs," he said.

Hammers talks about marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, cocaine and inhalants. This week's lesson will center on violence and how to reduce it.

Kids will be given instruction in resolving conflicts without "automatically lashing out at one another.

"I'll tell them they all have rights, but each has to remember that the person sitting next to them has the same rights. They can't interfere with each others rights.

"I'll talk about how being assertive is a better response style than being demanding and aggressive. They need to know what their opinions are and go from there."

Hammers appears before the students in full uniform, and he wants them to think of him as a positive role model.

"Police are human just like the kids," he says, "and we have problems like they do. But we want the kids to know we aren't here to harm them."

The DARE program may expand next year into the junior high grades. If it does, Hammers will likely teach older students and another officer will give lessons to the fifth- and sixth-graders. In the meantime, however, Hammers is happy with his job -- he likes to think he makes a difference.