DARE on the way out in Cook

Daily Herald

December 27, 2006

By Rob Olmstead

Under pressure from the county board president to slash his budget by 17 percent, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is doing away with his department’s DARE program, his office confirmed Tuesday.

“Obviously, it’s a tough time,” spokeswoman Sally Daly said.

The cost savings will be minimal — in the tens of thousands of dollars — but the removal of 12 deputies from DARE duties will allow them to be placed in other assignments, she said.

“We’re short-staffed in our courts,” Daly said.

Many of the 12 reassigned deputies will end up there, she said.

DARE, an acronym for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, featured deputies visiting school classes to try to teach students drug awareness and how to resist offers of drugs. Daly said Northwest suburban schools in Des Plaines, Mount Prospect and Prospect Heights had participated in the program in the past.

But the program was controversial, with some critics saying it was ineffective and intrusive.

“Most studies show that it doesn’t work, and some studies show that kids who participate in (DARE) were more likely to be involved in drugs,” said Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, a longtime critic of the program.

He hailed the change.

“You like to see drug programs work, but when they don’t, you don’t want to pay for them,” Quigley said, noting that the federal government also has stopped funding DARE.

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, who is struggling to close a $500 million deficit in a $3.1 billion budget, has asked each elected official to cut his or her budget by 17 percent.

Dart’s office has said 17 percent is too much but noted the office was close to reaching a 10 percent target installed by Stroger’s predecessor, Bobbie Steele.

Daly said the sheriff’s controversial Boot Camp, which tries to rehabilitate nonviolent criminals instead of sending them to prison, is not on the chopping block.

When asked in July while running for sheriff what he thought about DARE, Dart said, “I believe it is important for law enforcement agencies to reach out to young people and attempt to prevent drug use and other criminal conduct. DARE is one of many programs that accomplish this function.”

Daly conceded it was difficult for Dart to end a program that had the best of intentions but added, “I think the sheriff understands the fiscal reality of the county and tough decisions have to be made.”

Copyright 2006, Paddock Publications

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