To help keep our children on the path to success, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office sponsors and coordinates the statewide DARE program. The DARE program has been present in Kansas for over 25 years. In 1999 the legislature established the coordinator's office as a program in the Attorney General’s office. Since then, the efforts have grown to include School Resource Officers and GREAT Officers in addition to DARE officers. It is a cooperative effort between the three law enforcement programs that includes parents and schools .
The statewide coordinator plans and conducts trainings focused on the special skills needed by law enforcement officers that are assigned to schools. To help integrate the work of school based officers, the statewide coordinator also serves as the associate director the Kansas Center for Safe and Prepared Schools located in the Adjutant General’s Department.
D.A.R.E. lessons focus on the following objectives for all programs:
- Acquiring knowledge and skills to recognize and resist peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs.
- Enhancing self-esteem.
- Learning about positive alternatives to substance use.
- Building interpersonal and communications skills.
- Learning conflict resolution skills.
- Developing risk assessment and decision making skills.
- Reducing violence.
- Resisting gang involvement.
For more information about D.A.R.E. please visit: www.dare.com or contact us at (785) 368-8438.