School Programs

Background
The Woodbury Police Department has an extensive commitment to youth education in cooperation with our local public schools. Topics include constitutional law, driver's education, drug education and gang and violence prevention. Our philosophy is that our time invested in prevention programs is worthwhile and can help to shape behaviors as children reach their teenage years. We hope that by reaching children in a positive, helpful way at an early age, we can reduce the number of negative contacts in the future. A side benefit for us is that young people get to know individual police officers as real people, people who care about them and the community. Following is a breakdown of our current programs and a look at the future.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)
D.A.R.E. began in Los Angeles, California, in 1981 as an effort to combat juvenile drug abuse. Taught by specially trained police officers, D.A.R.E. is targeted at elementary school students and helps develop life skills and good decision-making.

Woodbury began teaching the D.A.R.E. program in 1991 when Officer Duane Bradley was trained as the first D.A.R.E. officer. Currently, two officers teach the program to more than 3000 elementary age students:

The D.A.R.E. Curriculum
The Woodbury D.A.R.E. program starts in kindergarten and culminates with the 17-week D.A.R.E. core curriculum in 6th grade. Grades K through 5 receive four visits each year from their D.A.R.E. officer. Topics included are personal safety, conflict resolution skills, drug safety and resistance techniques.

When students reach 6th grade, they take part in 17 weeks of training designed to prepare them for junior high.

D.A.R.E.: The Parent's Role
As with any prevention program, D.A.R.E. is only effective as one part of a community strategy to control violence and drug use among our youth. Successfully completing D.A.R.E. is a great asset for any child, but it by no means is a guarantee against high risk behavior. The real foundation of our D.A.R.E. program isn't found with our schools or our police officers. Our success, your child's success, lies with you, the parent.

Do you want to know what you can do to protect your child from the things you fear most? Things like drug abuse, underage drinking, sexual promiscuity? Take a few minutes to evaluate your child's environment. Is your son or daughter being provided the tools they need to say NO to high risk behaviors?

For more information feel free to contact one of our D.A.R.E. officers at (651) 714-3600 or by e-mail at police@ci.woodbury.mn.us.

Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.)

The perfect follow-up to 6th grade D.A.R.E.

As good as the D.A.R.E. program is, its effectiveness diminishes over time if it is not reinforced as children grow up and enter the teen years. A recent study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse evaluated 3,150 11th graders from 34 Ohio schools.

The study concluded that students who only received elementary D.A.R.E. were at a lower risk of alcohol and other drug use than non-D.A.R.E. students. Not surprisingly, however, students who had multiple D.A.R.E. exposures (junior or senior high prevention classes) were at an even lower risk of drug use than those who only had elementary D.A.R.E.

Our response was to start a follow-up program in 7th grade called Gang Resistance Education and Training. G.R.E.A.T. is an intensive 10-lesson program taught during two weeks of family and consumer science class.

Seventh graders discuss and role-play situations they are likely to encounter in real life. Issues such as bullying, harassment, peer pressure, drug use and gang behavior are dealt with candidly and students are encouraged to come up with positive solutions to the problems they face.

The G.R.E.A.T. program is tailored to the real issues which junior high students are most concerned with. Students are taught that they can be an important part of solving our violence and drug problems. For more information about the G.R.E.A.T. program contact us by e-mail at police@ci.woodbury.mn.us.