Pubdate: Fri, 09 Mar 2007
Source: Waynesville Daily Guide (MO)
Copyright: Waynesville Daily Guide 2007
Contact:  http://www.waynesvilledailyguide.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3638
Author: Darrell Todd Maurina
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

DARE GROWTH PROMPTS REVIEW

St. Robert police have a problem, but it's not  necessarily a bad 
problem: too many schools like  Officer Crystal Nunn, who was asked 
to begin a Drug  Abuse Resistance Education program at Freedom 
Elementary School and now handles several other  programs at schools 
on Fort Leonard Wood.

Nunn had worked as a police officer in St. Robert  before she left 
for a suburban St. Louis police agency  where she received training 
as a DARE officer. When she  returned to the St. Robert Police 
Department last year,  city officials decided it would be good to use 
her DARE training to begin a program when the Waynesville 
R-VI  School District opened a new elementary school in St.  Robert.

St. Robert City Administrator Norman Herren asked  members of the St. 
Robert Finance Committee what they  should do next.

"We started out with the idea that we had a qualified  DARE officer 
and we would use her in the school since  it was the first school in 
the city," Herren said. "She  turned out to be fantastic and we've 
gotten more and  more requests to use her."

That's good for the schools but not so good for St.  Robert police, 
who can't use her for road patrol duty  when she's working in schools.

Alderman Todd Williams asked how other communities  handle the DARE 
program; Herren said no other school  system in the area has a 
certified DARE officer and  said he didn't think Fort Leonard Wood 
military police  were now using the DARE program.

Alderman Theresa Cook, who chairs the finance committee  and is a 
Waynesville administrative employee, said  she'd check with other 
cities and school systems on how  they handle the DARE program and 
would report back to  the committee.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman