But she seems more like a dedicated teacher than a typical cop. Indeed, she knows every student's name, and when she discovered that P.S. 20 did not have a basketball team, she started her own. Such devotion has made Officer Carla a star in the city's DARE program. At first, the students fired the usual questions at her. But now, near the end of DARE's 17-week curriculum, any anxiety the students may have had about cops, or at least Officer Carla, seems to have dissipated.
Tiny hands shoot into the air as students holler the answers.
Apparently, her students have internalized DARE's message resisting peer pressure and choosing the right friends will keep them away from drugs. Since then, DARE has become the world's dominant drug prevention program. The largest city program is right here in New York, with DARE officers teaching in 271 public elementary schools. By the end of the current school year, the total number of graduates from New York City's DARE program will climb to 210,000. As DARE America grows, so does criticism of its effectiveness.