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by pltm
(PLTM) - An officer of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force has introduced a new programme in three Primary Schools: Willard Wheatley, Enis Adams, and Ivan Dawson Primary Schools.
According to police, DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is a ten-week programme for students from kindergarten to grade six. It is geared towards helping children make wise decisions when faced with adversities, and peer-pressure to do something harmful or unsafe.
Being a trained DARE officer himself, PC Zamfir Adams, teaches topics such as understanding that rules and laws are put in place to keep them safe, saying no to drugs, what to do in an emergency, handling conflict without violence, avoiding gangs and gang violence, understanding traffic signs and symbols among many others.
Commissioner of Police, Mark Collins, embraces this new initiative and welcomes the opportunity to help shape young minds and steer them away from bad thoughts.
“I am quite happy that PC Adams has thought to implement this new programme in our schools, where future minds are most vulnerable. I look forward to getting the Community officers involved and expanding to more schools.”
As the end of the school semester approaches, there was a competition amongst the three schools to sing the DARE cheer song for a chance to win prizes. The winning school was the Grade 3 class of the Enis Adams Primary School who received their prize on Wednesday, December 7 from PC Adams himself.
The Administration team of the Enis Adams Primary School extended gratitude to the RVIPF, especially PC Adams for including them in the DARE programme.
“This initiative has created an invaluable bond between our students and police officers, as they truly believe and have a deep understanding that officers are their friends and are here to help keep all of us safe," the team stated.
The timely sessions on stranger awareness, and being drug free gave our students insight into how to stay safe in different situations. The Manner in which officer Adams delivered the content was indeed engaging and we look forward to seeing more of him throughout the school year," they concluded.
It is the vision for Community officers to get involved in this new initiative and for the programme to expand to more schools throughout the Territory in 2023 with the motto “reaching the minds, one school at a time”.
The programme will resume in the new school semester with the conclusion of grades five & six at the current schools.
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