Countywide : Kids Go to Dog for Anti-Drug Message

Young people across Orange County will be encouraged to avoid drugs as part of Red Ribbon Week, a national anti-drug campaign that gets into full swing this week.

Police officers, teachers and business people have teamed up to create educational programs during Red Ribbon Week, which runs through Sunday.

Outside the Fullerton Police Department on Monday, officers talked with groups of elementary school children and showed them one of the police dogs, Carlo, who is used to sniff for drugs.

“Why doesn’t the dog blow drugs out of his nose?” asked 7-year-old Aaron Araujo, petting the German shepherd.

The smell “is gone in a matter of seconds,” explained Officer Scott Marple, who has worked with Carlo for three years. The dog, whose full name is Carlo von der katten Hardt was trained in Germany and only responds to commands spoken in German.

Many of the children were awed by the police dog, who sat quietly next to Marple. “Can the dog go faster than a dirt bike?” asked Aaron.

Marple said he didn’t think so.

The drug education week has special significance to Fullerton officers, because narcotics Detective Tommy De La Rosa was shot to death by alleged drug dealers in 1990. Four men are on trial in connection with the shooting death.

The Police Department has dedicated this year’s Red Ribbon Week in memory of De La Rosa, and all city employees will wear red ribbons reading “In Memory of Detective Tommy De La Rosa, June 21, 1990; Drug-Free and Proud.”

Jason Schoen, a drug abuse resistance education officer who goes into the schools, said awareness is crucial in the fight against the drug trade. “Just putting people in jail is not working,” he said.

But Schoen said the results of anti-drug education are hard to gauge. “It’s going to take a generation to show if it’s working,” he said as he watched children wearing red ribbons chase each other around a police car parked on the department lawn.

Many children who came to the police event seemed well informed about the dangers of drugs. Thomas Flores, athletic director at the Fullerton Boys and Girls Club, brought a group of youngsters to talk with the police officers.

“I don’t care if you’re 5 years old or 10, you know about drugs,” said Flores, 19.

As part of Red Ribbon Week, rallies, red ribbon decorations and lectures are planned in La Habra, Tustin, Anaheim, Irvine, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana, among other cities. Many school districts in the county have also encouraged their students, teachers and administrators to wear red ribbons during the week.

More than 1 million red ribbon wristbands have been distributed to Orange County schools, according to Tom Thomson, chairman of the “Drug Use Is Life Abuse” organization in Santa Ana.