THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412080166
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
MASTER POLICE officer Jim Jenkins is the kind of man who has creditability with the kids he teaches in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (better known as D.A.R.E.) program.
First of all, he looks like a cop. The kind of cop with a solid build and a ready smile that you'd like to have show up when the school bully is giving you a hard time or the neighborhood pusher wants to add you to his list of customers.
Secondly, Jenkins and his wife Annette have kids of their own. There's Chase, 5, who's in kindergarten, and Casey, 4, who follows after her big brother and helps take care of little brother Brice, 2. If you're one of the real little kids in the D.A.R.E. program, it helps to know that the big guy in the uniform has lots of experience talking to people your age and height.
And if you're an older kid who goes home to a tough neighborhood every afternoon, it helps to know that Officer Jenkins knows what that's like, too.
``I grew up on 14th Street and in the Atlantis Apartments,'' Jenkins, who recently received an FBI Director's Community Leadership award for his work with D.A.R.E., ``but I was one of the lucky ones. I had a mother who always wanted to know where I was and what I was doing. She gave lots of hugs, but she kept close watch over me.''
If his mother hadn't been there to set the standards, Jenkins figures he could easily have ended up on the other side of the law. It's the kind of parental interest that Jenkins believes is needed to keep kids out of drugs and out of trouble.
That and the kind of education that the youngsters get in the D.A.R.E. program about things like figuring out how to make good decisions and how to resist following a crowd that's headed for trouble.
``We shoot straight with the kids,'' Jenkins said. That means walking a fine line between warning the youngsters of the very real dangers of drug use and exaggerating to the point where you lose credibility with those who see friends and family members who still manage to function while doing drugs.
``We also want the kids to see a different side of a police officer,'' he added.
That's the nice side, the side that Jenkins instinctively shows when he works with youngsters.
It's a side of Jenkins that the kids recognize and appreciate. When his youngest son had open heart surgery last year, the children at Red Mill Elementary School decided on their own to collect money for a gift for the little fellow.
It was a touching moment for the officer who believes in the essential goodness of the children with whom he works.
``Most of these kids are not going to take drugs,'' Jenkins said. ``Some will experiment, but I figure if we can save one then we've made a difference.''
He believes that the intensity of the D.A.R.E. program as it's taught in Virginia Beach is a key to its success.
``We hit them with (training) at an early age in elementary school,'' he said. ``Then we reinforce what we've taught at the middle and high school levels. We see these kids over and over again. Just from working with the kids you can see that it works,'' he added.
The award which Jenkins received from the FBI was one of about 50 presented to dedicated citizens and law enforcement officers throughout the nation who are working toward the goal of a drug-free America.
``He's a role model not just for the kids he works with,'' Special Agent Richard Holtz of the local FBI office said. ``He's a role model for other law enforcement officers as well. He literally can set the standards (for drug abuse education).'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JO-ANN CLEGG
``Most of these kids are not going to take drugs,'' says master
police officer Jim Jenkins of his work in the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education program. ``Some will experiment, but I figure if we can
save one then we've made a difference.''
by CNB