School Safety Programs Comparison Essay by Master Researcher

Schools in the United States are increasingly becoming centers of criminal activities among youth with drug and alcohol use on the rise. Parents, teachers and relevant authorities are concerned about the increasing rate of drug and alcohol use in public schools with substantial increase in violent activities on the school property. To rectify this problem and effectively deal with the issue, Los Angeles Police Department suggested a program in 1983 according to which police and school authorities would work together to curb the rising rate of crime in educational institutions. This resulted in the creation and implementation of Drug Abuse resistance program in schools all over the country. But a decade after its implementation, it was found that while DARE was a popular program; it had failed to produce significant positive results. This made some schools in the country look for alternative programs and in the mid 90s, School Resource Officer program was adopted by some schools in the country.