While Drug Abuse Resistance Education programs are getting cut from curriculums across the country, the Warsaw Police Department DARE division is celebrating its 25th anniversary of teaching in community schools. Cpl. Doug Light, who has been a DARE officer for seven years, said that when funds become limited, drug programs are usually the first to go. However, he said Warsaw Community Schools have been very supportive of the program. “We’re very fortunate to have our community, parents, police departments and schools to keep (the program) going,” he said. The DARE program has continued to grow since its inception in 1988, and Light said the program recently added two new student resource officers, making a total of four in the Warsaw community. Sgt. Dave Morales, Cpl. Jaime de la Fuente and Ptl. Jeff Ticknor partner with Light to coordinate the program. Morales has been with the program for two years, and both de la Fuente and Ticknor only recently joined. “Dave and I are really excited to have the new officers,” Light said. Ticknor and Light are assigned to certain area schools, while Morales is assigned to the high school and de la Fuente floats between all area schools. Each officer proctors 55-minute courses offered to students in the sixth and eighth grade. The purpose of these classes, Light said, is to provide students with tools they can use down the road – perhaps even as soon as high school – when they might encounter issues of drug use, gangs or violence. “We try to give them everything they need,” he said, “but ultimately it is the students’ choice.” Joe Anderson, an eighth-grader at Lakeview Middle School, said he hasn’t had to use the decision-making skills he has learned in DARE yet, but the program has given him more confidence. “I know that DARE will help me in the future,” he said. Sydney Wiedeman, also in eighth grade at Lakeview, agreed with her classmate and said learning the rights and wrongs of drug use and abuse are important to her. “I like knowing I can make a difference,” she said. If community members are interested in donating to the DARE program, contact Light at 574-372-9576.
