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D.A.R.E. program improves public image of police

Accepted for publication in Health Education Research

Augustine Hammond, Ph.D.

Department of Political Science, Augusta State University,

Augusta, GA

Research Summary:

The study has provided findings with important implications for prevention programming, and agencies concerned with improving the public image of the police and police functions.

Given the possibility that program outcomes are related to attitudes toward program instructors, the more positive evaluation of police instructors by students in this study suggests that D.A.R.E. programs delivered by police officers are more likely to have a positive impact.

Consequently, we suggest that police officers may be appropriate deliverers of prevention programs for the majority of adolescents. The use of police officers as instructors of prevention programs has the potential of not only helping improve the effectiveness of prevention programs but would also help create and sustain a more positive image of the police or at least abate the negative image held by adolescents.

The positive image of the police developed among students may create a situation where the students could relate cordially to the police, report crime voluntarily and cooperate in curbing crime in schools. With schools being a microcosm of the wider community, it is expected that the cordial relationship developed between the police and students in schools would be transferred to the community. This might engender more positive community engagement and meaningful police-community partnerships toward effective and efficient policing.

This is particularly important considering that community policing has become a dominant approach to policing in the United States of America in recent years.