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Ohio County Hosts First DARE Officer Training in West Virginia

Sgt. Jonathan Hughes of the Lewisburg Police Department in Greenbrier County completes his DARE officer training by speaking to students at Woodsdale Elementary School Thursday. DARE America has been training prospective DARE officers over the past two weeks during sessions at The Highlands Event Center, and this is the first DARE officer training to take place in West Virginia.

WHEELING — Law enforcement agents wanting to be DARE officers now are being trained in West Virginia.

“DARE” stands for “drug abuse resistance education,” and 13 officers have spent the last two weeks getting their own education on the subject during training classes at The Highlands Event Center in Ohio County.

The classes, conducted by DARE America, are the first to take place in West Virginia, according to Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard. Howard has been tapped to serve as coordinator for the DARE Program in the state.

Officers participating came from four states — West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Thursday was graduation day for the prospective DARE officers, and their last requirement was to present a lesson to students at Woodsdale and Steenrod elementaries in Wheeling, and at Wheeling Country Day School.

Howard said he had his own DARE training in Georgia, and most recently the closest training for his deputies was in Tennessee.

“It’s a very intense training they go through,” he said. “They go over the lessons they are going to teach in the school.”

The training touches on all types of drugs and alcohol. Courses aimed at DARE education in high schools focus on teaching the dangers of over the counter drugs and vaping, according to Howard.

“DARE America has become very enhanced, and they keep updating the program completely,” he said.

“It’s evidence-based, and they keep making it bigger and bigger.

“Anything we can do to combat the drug issues we are having I’m definitely for. You have to start with them while they are young, but you can’t just stop at the high school. You have to take it to the middle school and even high school.”

The DARE training in West Virginia was overseen by Capt. Jack Bennett, training coordinator for the state of New Jersey. He and two team members — called a “mentor” and a “facilitator” — have been in Ohio County for the past two weeks during the training sessions.

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