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By: CASE # I SCHOOLING FOR ADDITIONAL D.A.R.E. OFFICER Jessie Hart, Finance Officer and Dave Gustafson, Police Sergeant Background: For the past three years, the City of Ramsey Police Department has provided the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program for all fifth graders attending Ramsey Elementary School. The programs anchor person, D.A.R.E. Officer Jim Singewald, has performed in an exceptional manner during those three years. He has had the opportunity to establish a good working relationship with, the school principal, teachers and staff, PTA members, and most importantly, the students. Based on information received through the school district, it appears that there will be one additional fifth grade class at Ramsey Elementary for the 1995-1996 school year, and four more fifth grade classes for the 1996-1997 school year, with the opening of the new addition. This brings the total fifth grade classes to nine for the 1996-1997 school year. With the addition of five fifth grade classes, the time has arrived to train another officer for the D.A.R.E. program. Training for D.A.R.E. officers is provided by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who administers the D.A.R.E. funds on behalf of the State of Minnesota, at no cost to the City. In order to accommodate the continuation of the D.A.R.E. program, it is necessary to add one additional officer as a certified instructor for the 1995-1996 school year and into the 1996-1997 school year. Officer Tim Dwyer could attend training classes during November and December of 1995, and be on hand to assume one D.A.R.E. class in January 1996. This would provide him the opportunity to develop his techniques and skills sufficiently to assume four of the nine fifth grade classes for the 1996-1997 school year. The teaching schedule for 1996-1997 would be on a continuous basis from September 1996 through May 1997, with the schedule split between Officer Singewald and Officer Dwyer. It is anticipated that Officer Singewald would teach five classes from September to January and Officer Dwyer would teach the remaining four from January through May. By December, there will be one additional officer who will nearly have completed the field training program, which Officer Dwyer assists with, thereby allowing his release from the regular duty schedule with minimal disruption or overtime costs while he attends D.A.R.E. training. The primary advantages of having two officers trained as D.A.R.E. instructors are that there are more officers capable of the task providing back-up in the event of illness or injury to either officer and would afford Officer Singewald more time to prepare for the annual Becky Weiss Memorial Bike Road-co in the spring of the year. As an aside, the 1996 budget request did not take into consideration the need to cover five fifth grade classes in the fall of 1996, therefore, the requests will be amended accordingly when a revised document is submitted for review. It is anticipated that it will need to increase by approximately 80% to accommodate the five fall classes. This will be reduced in 1997 due to the five/four class schedule.