PLATFORM : Community Is Key
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I think that prevention programs need to be based in the community, with nonprofit agencies and indigenous people providing the services.
One problem with the Los Angeles Police Department’s DARE program is that they rarely have the kind of parental support necessary to have a comprehensive prevention program.
Why? Because many times the officers don’t speak the language that parents in the community speak. And parents are not going to come out and listen to uniformed police officers, particularly in communities of color where people are feeling harassed and overwhelmed by the police department that serves them.
I’m not saying that police don’t have a role with young children. I liked the old days when officers walked down the street, and you knew them by name. But that’s very different from what the focus of the DARE program is.
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