This year 36 million school children around the world –26 million in the U.S.—will benefit from D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), the highly acclaimed program that gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence. D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven so successful that is now being implemented in 75 percent of our nation’s school districts and in more than 52 countries around the world. D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten violence-free lives. Bobby Neal is currently our department D.A.R.E. officer and school resource officer. The D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to be taught by police officers whose training and experience gave them the background needed to answer the sophisticated questions often posed by young students about drugs and crime. Prior to entering the D.A.R.E. program, officers undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques, and communication skills. 40 hours of additional training are provided to D.A.R.E. instructors to prepare them to teach the high school curriculum.