GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Virginia State D.A.R.E. Training Office is poised to achieve many goals over the next year. Through the combined support of The Department of State Police, Department of Education, D.A.R.E. America, and local agencies and school divisions, we hope to accomplish the following:

  • The Virginia D.A.R.E. Training Office will conduct training seminars with at least two Basic D.A.R.E. Officer Training Seminars (2-week), a Senior High training Seminar, and a Community Education Training Seminar. The annual Statewide In-service will be conducted in conjunction with the annual school based law enforcement training conference hosted by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.
  • Curriculum updates will be presented as they become available from D.A.R.E. America.
  • The Training Office will attempt to train officers from local agencies as mentor officers. This is a necessity due to the loss of personal currently certified to train in the revised D.A.R.E. Curricula and revised training modules. There are currently four officers/deputies from local agencies scheduled to attend the next available Mentor Officer Training.
  • The Virginia Training Office will attempt to purchase as many D.A.R.E. workbooks as is financially reasonable in order to assist local agencies with the delivery of the D.A.R.E. Program to school divisions within their jurisdictions. This venture will assist in the continued delivery and growth of the D.A.R.E. Program throughout the Commonwealth. With the additional funding received from the General Assembly, the training office will purchase 25,000 –30,000 workbooks covering all levels of the D.A.R.E. curriculum.
  • The Training Office will offer D.A.R.E. Training to all localities, military, and to members of the Department of State Police. The training office will attempt to offer training to jurisdictions outside the Commonwealth when space is available.
  • Virginia will assist D.A.R.E. America in conducting evaluations of the Revised D.A.R.E. Elementary curriculum. Several evaluations are underway at this time and a new study is in the planning stages. The Virginia D.A.R.E. Training Office will cooperate with and support any evaluation that utilizes Virginia Schools.
  • A change in D.A.R.E. America Policies has resulted in all the components of the D.A.R.E. Program to exist as stand alone programs. This means that a school division can deliver either elementary, middle/junior high, senior high, or parent without teaching any other level. The Virginia State D.A.R.E. Training Office will approach those jurisdictions that previously could only deliver one level of D.A.R.E. that were forced to scale back their participation and offer this option as an alternative. The training office has had contact with several jurisdictions with the hope to re-implement the D.A.R.E. Curriculum as well as several jurisdictions that have expressed an interest in expanding their current involvement.
  • The Virginia State D.A.R.E. Coordinator will serve on the GOSAP (Governor’s Office on Substance Abuse Prevention) Committee
  • The Virginia State D.A.R.E. Coordinator will serve as a liaison member of the Virginia D.A.R.E. Officer’s Association
  • The Virginia State D.A.R.E. Training Center will perform any other functions as required by the Virginia State Police or D.A.R.E. America.