D.A.R.E. Constable Reaches Milestone
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 @ 9:32 AM
Constable Medcke helps a Harwin elementary student deliver his essay – (photo courtesy RCMP)
Prince George, B.C. – Prince George RCMP Constable Debra Medcke is receiving kudos for her work as a D.A.R.E. instructor in Prince George. For the past seven years, Cst. Medcke has been delivering the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program to students in Prince George. She has reached a milestone, having delivered the program to 5,000 students in the community.
“It’s my passion” says Cst. Medcke about her time instructing D.A.R.E “ I enjoy the program, children need the tools to make healthy decisions, D.A.R.E. provides those tools.”
The most recent graduation class involved 29 grade 5 students at Harwin Elementary.
D.A.R.E. is a drug education and prevention program designed to equip school children with the skills to recognize and resist social pressures to experiment with tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. D.A.R.E. seeks to establish positive relationships between law enforcement officers, children, teachers, parents and other community members. Students learn a four-step decision making model that emphasizes healthy choices and a take charge attitude.
Each class requires at least 12 hours of instruction, making Cst. Medcke’s in class instruction time nearly 1800 hours during her time as a D.A.R.E. officer. That does not include all the preparation and marking time she puts into each class.
As part of her duties as an instructor, Cst. Medcke has read an essay from nearly every one of her students. One essay, she recalls, was written with symbols instead of letters by a student that was not able to speak. Many essays offered personal experiences and almost all generated emotion.
Supt. Eric Stubbs, Officer in Charge of the Prince George RCMP Detachment, offers praise to Cst. Medcke for her work on the D.A.R.E. program which is an important part of the drug prevention strategy “To have a member with Cst. Medcke’s dedication and passion for the program is exemplary. The impact that she’s had on the lives of thousands of children through the D.A.R.E. program is immeasurable. I congratulate Cst. Medcke’s milestone of teaching over 5000 students in Prince George."
Comments
Trivia note: DARE Canada started right here in Prince George, and has since spread throughout the entire country. Former Prince George RCMP Member Randy Brown was instrumental in pulling together a group of community members, who did a huge amount of work to create the first Canadian DARE program.
Wow, leave it to the school system and the RCMP to use such an antiquated and ineffective program such as DARE. Study after study has shown that DARE makes no difference in kids attitudes about drugs as they get older and in some school districts, criminal activity involving drugs is often linked to DARE graduates.
Colossal waste of time and resources. No wonder teachers don’t have enough time to actually teach when they are mandated by administrators to put this garbage into schools.
Kudos to the members throughout B.C. who have worked with kids tirelessly to put them on the straight and narrow. In my talks with many young people, they credit DARE for helping them make the right decisions later on in life. Thanks Cst.
Medcke for your efforts.
Excellent work Cst. Medcke!
Besides being an important educational tool for school children with regards to the dangers of drugs and alcohol, the DARE program also give strategies for youth to deal with other common problems such as violence and bullying.
Additionally, it helps to build a positive relationship between the police and students as well as the community in general. Speaking from personal experience, the officer who ran the DARE program in my school was the first personal interaction I had with a member of the RCMP and it was a very positive one. I imagine the same is true for most of these grade 5 students.
Kudos again, Cst. Medcke. Keep up the good work!
Sorry Howrd, the DARE program worked for my kid and most of his peers. Too bad they didn’t put it into the curriculum earlier though. Bunch of the kids in his class were already addicted to something before they got the program in grade 6.
Congrats and excellent work Cst Medcke!
Howard – care to link us to some of these studies that back up your claim? Should be easy if there are so many.
Is it not typical that there would be one bad apple in a bunch like Mr Stern, to take the focus away from a great achievement and a celebration for all those who graduated and participated in DARE. Im curious Mr Stern, in where you got your study after study information from and am surprised that you would not credit yourself with such information to back up your negative statements about the DARE program. I congradulate Constable Medcke for having such commitments in child development and awareness about drugs and alcohol and the negative spirals that these substances will create. Further more, congradulations to the schools that have implemented such said programs into the school carriculum and congradulations to all the students who have succeeded. Truly a job well done.
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