The most popular reward for completing the DARE program?
Survey says . . . T-shirts.About 95 fifth-graders now participating in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program were given a survey Thursday morning written by Salt Lake County Commissioner Mary Callaghan.
Callaghan asked the sheriff's office to see if DARE T-shirts are the best incentive to encourage students to be drug-free.
Last week Callaghan pulled from the County Commission agenda a request to spend $12,000 donated to the DARE program on T-shirts, saying she wanted a "cost-benefit analysis" to prove the clothing helped fight drug use.
She proposed the survey to see if another item might be more effective than T-shirts.
"What if we had provided Pogs - would they have worked like heck to get them?" Callaghan said. "It's presumptuous that we as adults know what's best for them. Show me an item that those students really want."
Before the survey, Callaghan suspected it might not be T-shirts. "I know a fifth-grader who received a DARE T-shirt and has never worn it," Callaghan said. "I want to make sure it's a benefit. How often do we get freebies and chuck them?"
The survey asked students what they would like upon completion of the DARE program. The options included a nylon backpack, hat, T-shirt, water bottle, shoelaces, pencil, pen and bumper sticker.
Two schools participated. At Canyon Rim Elementary, 81 percent of the students surveyed picked T-shirts. At Calvin Smith Elementary, 89 percent chose T-shirts.
"I was surprised it was that high," Sheriff Aaron Kennard said. "I didn't expect it to be that overwhelming."
Callaghan said Thursday she was glad to now have some evidence that T-shirts are an incentive. She also said she wasn't questioning the worth of the DARE program.
"I think it's great," she said. "We need to put more into prevention. But in any area just putting money out there without proper evaluation may not solve problems."
Callaghan said the county needs to ask citizens and clients what's important to them and what they need.
"Too often we assume we know it all," she said.
Part of the problem officials have had testing DARE's effectiveness is it is a prevention program, which makes it hard to measure success empirically.
"How do you say we prevented a crime that didn't ever happen?" DARE deputy Perry Buckner said. "How do you measure the number of kids who don't chose drugs because of what they learn in DARE?"
DARE isn't just about drugs, Buckner said. It's about building self-esteem, gang and violence education, and building a better relationship between police and the community.
Canyon Rim sixth-graders who graduated from DARE last year said the ceremony and the T-shirts make them feel "good, special and cool."
"I think it's quite a good idea to whomever thought it up," said Drew Weaver, 10. He's been in DARE only two weeks but says he loves the class.
"I wouldn't know as much as I do now (about drugs)," he said. "I know drug pushers aren't as smart as they might appear."
DARE graduate Amy Thomas thinks maybe she needs to write to Callaghan, although she can't remember her name.
"I'd just tell her about the shirts and that we like them and wear them," Thomas said.
Several youngsters say they wear the shirts their siblings earned. One boy said his brother still wears his - and he's 13 years old. Ask a little person in a DARE shirt what it means and they're more than happy to display their knowledge.
"(The shirt) makes it worth the work," said DARE graduate Benj Hillyard. Weaver adds, "Everyone can tell you don't do drugs."