Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/23/07

BY BONNIE DELANEY
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

BERKELEY — Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education officers had a chance to practice their teaching skills at the township's elementary schools recently when 19 of them from various police departments participated in the 2007 DARE Officer Training Program.

This is the fifth year that officers have visited fifth- and sixth-graders at Berkeley Township Elementary School and kindergartners up to fourth-graders at Clara B. Worth Elementary School, said Joseph H. Vicari, the district's superintendent of schools.

"The officers get a chance to demonstrate their ability to teach a structured lesson to students and interact on a personal level with them," Vicari said.

Sgt. David Britton, a former Berkeley DARE officer, established the relationship between the state DARE program and the local school system, Vicari said, and it has continued to flourish with the assistance of Scott Selby and Damon Papa, who are Berkeley's DARE officers now.

The core of the program is taught to fifth- and sixth-graders, and Berkeley Township Elementary School offers a great opportunity to practice teaching in one building, Vicari said.

The officers also are required as part of their training to instruct lower grade levels, so they stopped at the Clara B. Worth School to interact with the younger students, Selby said.

The DARE program is taught throughout the school district, as well as at Central Regional Middle School, Selby said. The primary mission is to provide children with the information and skills they need to live drug- and violence-free lives.

"Our goal is to teach kids the tools that they will need to avoid negative influences and instead, make good decisions for themselves," according to Selby and Papa's Web site, www.berkeleydare.com.

"Additionally, it establishes positive relationships between students and law enforcement, teachers and parents," Selby said.