SAM

What is your official title?
I am a corporal in the Farmington Police Department, I am assigned to schools as a school
resource officer, and I'm a D.A.R.E. officer.

How long have you been working with drug awareness education?
I became a D.A.R.E. officer in 1997. So I'm just about to become a decade of being a D.A.R.E.
officer.

What kind of meth related problems have you encountered in the past year?
In the past year, I am assigned to the schools full time during the school year, and in the summers
I work the roads with the patrol division. I have not had too many encounters this year.
Occasionally we will have a student that comes through our school system in public schools that
have had a problem with meth, but it isn't too frequent.

How successful is the D.A.R.E. program?
I think it's a system that's proactive. It's hard to get a magic number. There's no measuring
device for the D.A.R.E. program. I think it's a great program! I personally wouldn't have spent 10
years doing it if I thought it wasn't helpful. It has been revamped this past year. It went from a
17 week program to a 10 week program. It is just a tool; it's not a catch-all. It doesn't solve
everybody's problems. You can't meet with students for 10 hours total time, and expect it to
solve their lives' problems. It takes parents and everybody to get those skills across, so our kids
and students don't turn to drug use. It's hard to measure.

However, I can tell you that since I've started this program that there's been several times when
I've come across a parent or a student several years down the road that said "Thanks to you, I still
don't do drug drugs!" I can't put a price tag on that. I don't know that you can. If I have a parent
that has a kid that doesn't use drugs thanks to the D.A.R.E. program, I could tell you how much it
would be worth. It would be priceless! So, I think it's a successful program. In a setting where
that child doesn't have to be scared, that they can learn that police officers are real people. If
they are scared or worried, they can talk to that police officer. If they know something about
drugs, and need help with it themselves or a family member. It's a way that they can connect.

How long have you been aware of the meth problem in our area?
St. Francis County has been one of the higher counties in the state of Missouri for meth. Part of
that problem is because we have a lot of rural areas. We have areas that are away from the
population, barns and so forth, that are quite convenient for those who intend make meth. I've
been a police officer in this area for about 12 years. Meth has been a problem for most of that
time. I can remember back as far as a community-based problem, it kind of comes at different
times. I don't see meth many times in a school year. I don't see meth in the school that often,
but I'm sure if we knew the real truth, that we would find that there are many students that
come to school affected by meth. Whether they use it or not, they might have friends or
relatives that use it. Not necessarily students, but I would say that we probably can't determine
how many people are actually affected by it, although they are not using it themselves.

How do you get your information of students being on drugs in our school district?
I am assigned to the schools, and I work mainly out of the high school. I deal with the students
who are in 9-12th grade, and mainly them. I am the supervisor of the School Resource Officer
program, and there is one more officer, Officer Guyer. He works for me, and he teaches
D.A.R.E. at the Farmington Middle School. As far as a drug economy, if a student has a problem
at school, it's typically if they're caught at school. It's illegal to possess an illegal drug so if they
are discovered, they will contact me and we will make an arrest, and write a police report. We
are usually contacted by school administrators, or it's on view, and I've seen it, or followed up on
it and caught it.

What are the most successful techniques you use to prevent drug use?
I think the number one thing is getting back to families to prevent drug us. As far as I think
people and students will do what they see modeled at home. I think if there isn't drug use there,
there's a much higher chance of success rate. It certainly doesn't mean that there is a person
without drug use in a family couldn't do drugs. I think that's where schools come into play and
family, also friends, that aren't doing those things. That will help someone in their lives to not
do those things. There's a support group and trust with someone you're around everyday. It might
be your teacher or somebody. That's what is important about D.A.R.E., it tells you "Hey, these
are the dangers!" So now you're educated on why you shouldn't do it. We teach the D.A.R.E.
program for specifically strength and numbers. My advice is hang out with people who don't do
those things, and you're most likely not going to do those things. For example, if you hang out
with someone who shoplifts or steals, and if they do that all the time, you're most likely going to
pick up on that eventually. They're going to pressure you to do that. So it's important for you, as
a student, to make sure you're hanging with people and being friends with people that don't do
illegal activity. You're less likely to do that. You're going to less pressured, and have less need to
do that. It is important to not do that, and it is important to build your self-esteem. Be proud of
what you are, who you are, and make sure that you find something that you're good at and go
with it! Do it! For some people its sports, for other's its academics, some people it's through arts
and anything good! That will be a positive outreach. It may be just helping people in your
community; scouting groups. It could be various things, but it has to be positive that helps you
and your community.

How can we help with the D.A.R.E. program?
With the D.A.R.E. program in Farmington, we teach a program for those in 5th grade. We teach
a current junior high grade for 7th graders in Farmington. There is also a senior program for
those high-school that we don't use because of man-power issues. The main thing is, I think you
can encourage your relatives and be good role models. Make sure that they understand that it's
not cool to smoke. Tobacco kills people. Set the example that way, because I can assure you the
older you get in the school system, the younger people look up to you. Especially the ones you
know. Like when people ride school busses, things like that, those older kids should be good role
models. The younger kids are taking note. Same in a school setting! The younger kids start to pay
attention to the older kids. I think that it is probably a fair assumption that the younger kids pay
more attention to the older kids, they'll take note and they'll model that.

Have you ever had exposure to a meth lab?
I have come across a meth lab or two. Usually I can't recall a setting at school where we came
in. Now we have rolling meth labs. Rolling meth labs are where they are in the backseat or trunk
of a car. I think the main context with that is either the finished product, which is catching
someone with it at a traffic stop. A year ago we went to a house and found a lab that was there.
For me, because I'm assigned to schools, I don't work the roads. So I come into less contact with
labs, because I'm not working the roads or taking those calls for service. A lot of them are rural,
out where there are less people, because there are smells with the dangers of a meth lab that
people notice. So they try to get away from the public, so they can't be detected and get away
with that.