In January of 2000 Sheriff Ron Peckman established the DARE program for local School Districts in order to properly educate students about the issues they may be facing in reference to drugs.

Vernon County Sheriff’s Deputies Dan Miller and Pat McCarty completed a two week course to become certified as a DARE Instructor. D.A.R.E. is a police officer led series of classroom lessons that teach children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive, drug and violence free lives.

The program was developed as a joint effort between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District. It initially focused on elementary school children, but has now been expanded to include middle school and high school students.  D.A.R.E. goes far beyond traditional drug abuse programs that emphasize drug identification and the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol. These programs not only warn children not to use these substances, but how to resist the pressures to try them. D.A.R.E. teaches children the skills they need to recognize and resist the subtle and overt pressures that may lead them to experiment with drugs and alcohol. Police officers are utilized as regular classroom instructors to teach the various D.A.R.E. curricula.  The primary goal of D.A.R.E. is the prevention of substance abuse, gang affiliation and involvement in violence among school children. D.A.R.E. accomplishes this goal by:  · Providing students with accurate information about alcohol and drugs · Teaching students how to say "no" to drugs while providing alternatives to drug use · Teaching students decision making skills and about the consequences of their behavior Building students' self-esteem and teaching them to resist peer pressure.