Sheriff's Race Could Hinge on Support For Drug Education

"That will definitely tell us where we need to take the program in the future," said Gene E. Ayers, DARE coordinator for the Virginia State Police.

Some St. Mary's parents say they do not need a multimillion-dollar survey to convince them that their children should be participating in DARE, and they plan to vote against Zylak because of his decision to cut the program.

"We've got this situation where the studies say it's not effective, but everyone still loves it," Zylak said. "Clearly it's become an issue in the campaign, but we eliminated the program because we didn't have the manpower to staff a program that wasn't working."

DARE advocates generally play down the scientific studies questioning the effectiveness of the program in favor of testimonials from parents and former students who say it helped them make good decisions.

"I was at the county fair a couple of years ago, and a woman who was probably 22 came running up to me and said, 'You were my DARE officer, and you're the reason I didn't do drugs,' " said Mickey Bailey, a former sheriff's deputy who taught drug education in St. Mary's schools for 10 years. "That type of stuff happens all the time, and that's what convinces me it's useful."

Mia Zimmerman, a former PTA president at Piney Point Elementary School whose three children attend St. Mary's public schools, said the program is crucial to children's development.

"It was so sad when they got rid of it because it brought so much to the children," Zimmerman said. "It's information they're not able to get anywhere else, and if you teach them at an early age, they'll soak it in."

Zimmerman said she was elated to learn that voting for Cameron would mean the return of the DARE program.

"I think that'll help him win over parents, definitely," she said.

Cameron said it is clear to him that the community wants officers in schools teaching kids about drugs. Hanson, the professor emeritus, said Cameron is probably correct, adding that it would be unfortunate if Zylak lost his job based on a decision that scientific research rejects.

"Students love DARE, parents love it, and I've never met a school principal who didn't love it," he said. "Everybody thinks it's tremendously effective except the researchers who actually study it."

Bailey, who has retired from the sheriff's office and now teaches criminal justice courses at a local high school, countered that scientific evidence is unable to quantify a program's benefit to a community.

"It was the type of job where you felt like you could make a difference," he said. "On patrol you lock the same people up over and over again. DARE was one of those rare things that was proactive instead of reactive."