Arresting the Demand for Drugs: DARE and the School–Police Nexus in Los Angeles

Abstract

The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program simultaneously changed both the police and schools through the development of what this article calls a school–police nexus, a framing that explains the reciprocal relationship between the police and schools. By enabling officers to assert expertise in the realm of drug education, DARE not only made the police a regular presence in schools but aimed to transform the image of the police officer from a threatening enemy to a friend and mentor. More broadly, DARE intended to make the police a trusted institution in American cities amid the aggressive policing of the drug war. In turn, DARE transformed schools through their educative and disciplinary roles. Using police officers as teachers enabled DARE to coopt the educative function of schools to advance the police mission by other means. Yet, DARE officers did not shed their law-and-order message when they entered the classroom, reinforcing the carceral approach to the drug war.