Pubdate: Sun, 01 Apr 2007
Source: Record-Courier (Gardnerville, NV)
Copyright: 2007 The Record-Courier
Contact:  http://www.recordcourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1353
Author: Sheila Gardner

DEPUTY NAMED DARE OFFICER OF YEAR

With 23 years as a DARE officer, Deputy Chris Griffith is pretty sure 
he has the most experience teaching "resistance skills" to 
fifth-graders of any officer across the country - or the world, as 
the program is international.

Now, he has a plaque to prove he is the "DARE Officer of the Year" in Nevada.

He received the award March 22 at the state DARE officers' convention 
in Winnemucca.

"It was a secret and a complete surprise," he said in an interview 
Thursday from the office he shares with Youth Services Officer Teresa Duffy.

With 34 years in law enforcement, Griffith, 59, said he is a big 
believer in prevention.

DARE is an acronym for Drug Abuse Resistance Education which is what 
Griffith and Duffy teach to every fifth-grader in the Douglas County 
school system every year.

"I would rather teach kids to behave than arrest them and hope they 
wake up and fly right," he said.

"I totally believe in prevention and getting kids ready for 
challenges," he said. "It's a guarantee that somebody somewhere is 
going to confront children about drugs. Kids in the past didn't have 
the skills.

In addition to DARE, the Youth Services Office teaches A Fighting 
Chance to educate children about abduction prevention and GREAT, Gang 
Resistance Education and Training, for seventh-graders.

Griffith became a DARE officer in Orange County, Calif., in 1984, and 
joined the Douglas County Sheriff's Office in 1995.

"I'm the oldest, longest, still-standing DARE officer in the world," 
Griffith said. "I couldn't tell you the number of kids I shake hands 
with, pat on the back or hand out diplomas to."

Griffith said there is nothing he would rather do.

"I'd teach in a tent if I had to," he said.

He plans to retire Aug. 1, but is looking at continuing as a youth 
services officer on a part-time contract.

"I'm a huge believer in education," he said. "I have a master's 
degree and a teaching certificate. Teaching runs in the family. My 
mother was a teacher, my father was a doctor, but taught at medical 
school. My wife Yvette teaches at Eagle Valley Middle School."

Griffith gave credit for the programs' success to the school district 
and Sheriff Ron Pierini.

Active in state and national DARE officers' organizations, Griffith 
hears stories about districts and communities that cut the drug 
education program because of budget shortages.

In the long run, it's cheaper to keep the programs going, Griffith said.

"If you lock up one kid for a year, that's $30,000," he said. "For 
that, I can fund a program and half an officer."

Griffith said 80 percent of the school districts in the United States 
offer DARE programs. The communities which drop DARE often regret it 
after a couple of years.

"If you wait for drugs to be a problem, then start the DARE program 
again, it's a catch-up thing," he said. "You're chasing the problem 
and you might never catch up."

Griffith said Pierini's commitment to the youth services program is 
why Douglas County has a successful prevention rate.

"We're the only county in the state that meets with every kid in the 
school district for three years in a row - fifth-, sixth- and 
seventh-grades," he said. "If you lose your kids, you don't have a 
community. You're only as strong as your kids."
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MAP posted-by: Elaine