The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office’s D.A.R.E program is back, revamped and growing in interest. 

Since rolling the program back out in the fall, Sheriff Dawanna Witt says that more than 450 students have graduated. 

While D.A.R.E stands for “Drug Abuse Resistance Education,” Witt says this time around is different as they make sure to hit on the issues facing children today, like unique peer pressures and cyberbullying. 

“They need that more than ever now, with everything that we see that’s going on because we know that there are people out there that are preying on the vulnerabilities that our young people have,” Witt said. 

“One of our D.A.R.E officers told me that she was surprised by a fifth grader telling her about the drugs that he had already been exposed to as a fifth grader. You know, we can’t pretend that these problems are not occurring,” she added. 

Another big part of this is creating connections and building trust. 

“Engage and build relationships to help, to help bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community,” said Chaunte Ford with HCSO’s Community Engagement Unit. Ford is one of the deputies who teaches the D.A.R.E classes. 

The revamp has been so popular that Witt says they have a list of interested schools and community groups they will work on getting to.