To Resist Drugs and Violence

Welcome to the Walden Police Department DARE Page

What is Drug Abuse Resistance Education?

D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It is a drug abuse prevention education program designed to equip elementary and junior high school children with knowledge about drug abuse, the consequences of abuse, and skills for resisting the peer pressure to experiment with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. This unique program uses uniformed law enforcement officers to teach a formal curriculum to students in a classroom setting.  The Elementary DA.R.E. program targets fifth graders and prepares them to enter the middle school, where pressures to use drugs and alcohol will be more likely occur.   The middle school program targets eighth grade students, reinforcing their knowledge and skills, preparing them to enter high school.

Visit the Valley Central School District Website

Click here to read a moving poem about Drinking and Driving

DARE To Say No!

D.A.R.E. lesson plans focus on four major areas:

• Providing accurate information about drugs, alcohol and tobacco

• Teaching students good decision-making skills

• Showing students how to recognize and resist peer pressure

• Giving students ideas for positive alternatives to drug use

DARE officers work with children to help raise their self-esteem, teach them how to make decisions on their own, and help them identify positive alternatives to drugs. Through role-playing, lecture, question and answer and use of the specialized D.A.R.E workbook the , curriculum emphasizes the negative consequences of drug use, and reinforces the skills to resist peer pressure and intimidation.

Key Program Elements

D.A.R.E. is a cooperative effort by the police, schools, parents, and the community—all four working together to help our children make the right choices concerning drug use.

One of the unique features of Project D.A.R.E. is the use of uniformed police officers as instructors. DA.R.E. officers are assigned to a classroom beat. The officers selected for the program are talented in human relations and communication skills. The officers are specially trained to present a 17-lesson instructional unit, which culminates in a special graduation ceremony.

The need for an effective education program to inoculate students against the threat of drugs is critical to the well-being of our children and their future. Such a program is a long-term commitment for the Walden Police Department, the Village of Walden and the Valley Central School District.

Please join with us and D.A.R.E. to keep our kids off drugs!

For more information about our DARE Program
Please call 845-778-5595 or E -Mail us at dareofficer@waldenpd.com