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D.A.R.E.  LOSES STATE FUNDING

Norridge, Harwood Heights Seek Alternate Financing For Program

For more than 10 years, officers of the Harwood Heights and Norridge police departments have worked to keep grammar-school students substance free.  As trained Drug Abuse Resistance Education educators, the officers teach nine week classes for fifth-grade pupils.  They return to reinforce the program's message for seventh graders.

As of June 1, however, the DARE Bureau of the Illinois State Police Department will be disbanded.  Funds for the program have been eliminated from the state's budget.

The program is well thought of locally, and administrators, faculty and staff members at local schools are writing to Governor Rod Blagojevich to protest DARE's demise.

"Children today are being exposed to negative messages, graphic violence and inappropriate materials on a daily basis by means of video games, broadcast media, music and the Internet," wrote Ray Kuper, superintendent of Union Ridge District 86, in Harwood Heights.  "DARE officers are, and should remain as, positive role models to our students."

Harwood Heights Officer Dan Tyrpak is his department's representative at Union Ridge.  For 17 years, he's been the school's Officer Friendly.  For 15 years, he's served as DARE officer.

Currently, Tyrpak heads Region 2 of the Illinois DARE Officers Association, which serves Cook County north of I-290.

"At Union Ridge, I've built a rapport with the students," Tyrpak said.  "Students who met me as Officer Friendly are excited about starting DARE.  They know they'll see me again."

Fifth-grade DARE students learn about tobacco and alcohol as well as how they are glamorized in media promotions.  They study their effects on the body.  They also learn about the dangers of inhalants, said Tyrpak.

DARE officers teach their students how to resist peer pressure and how to be more confident.  They work to get students to commit to a drug-free lifestyle.

"Apparently, programs which feature police interacting with kids are being eliminated," Tyrpak noted.  "This is the first year we had to pay for the workbooks our students use.  I taught 70 kids this year, so the workbooks cost us $56."

Considering that 70 percent of all crime in the United States is drug-related, $56 seems a small price to pay, Tyrpak added.

"Private companies are always looking for programs to support," he said.  "If some firm paid for our workbooks, we'd be thrilled to publicize that."

Norridge's DARE program was started over 10 years ago by then Officer Sue Ziebka, said Commander Jim Jobe.  Today, Officers Steve Deutscher and Paul Malicki handle fifth-grade classes at Giles, Leigh, Pennoyer and Divine Savior schools, In Norridge.  Corporal Dave Disselhorst is trained to teach the seventh graders and fill in at the fifth-grade level.

All three officers are also juvenile officers.  The kids they teach know they're approachable - useful, if they ever need to speak to an officer, Jobe explained.

"For the last two years, we've attended the National DARE conventions," he added.  "Officers from other programs told me they spend one-third of their time soliciting funds.  We're actually expanding ours.  We're fortunate in Norridge."

Mayor Earl Field and the Norridge Village Board members are strong supporters of DARE.  Each year, the village budget has included a $50,000 line item for funding the program.

Field pays from his own pocket for prizes for writers of the best essays turned in at the conclusion of the fifth-grade DARE classes.  Last year, there were six fifth-grade classes - three at Giles; two each at Pennoyer and Leigh; and one at Divine Savior.  In each classroom, a $100 first-place prize and a $50 second-place award were presented.

Every Norridge DARE program graduate receives a DARE certificate and some DARE souvenirs - pencils, yo-yos, and such.

"They also each get some sort of sports ball - a soccer ball or a basketball," Jobe added.  "Those really create some excitement."

DARE programs in neighboring states remain strong, Tyrpak said.  When officer training is discontinued in Illinois, local police will be able to train elsewhere.

After completing a one-week National Association of School Resource Officers class at the Arlington Heights Police Department, Tyrpak has just been certified as a School Resource Officer.

"It was probably the best class I ever took," he said.  "They taught us what we can do as resources for kids and teachers.

"We watched films of Columbine High School and learned how to enhance security and safety for our children."

Tyrpak and others remain convinced of the value of police/student programs like DARE.  Residents and educators who agree are urged to call the governor's office at ( 217 ) 782-0244 or at governor@state.il.us