When she was much younger Bridgette Lens was thrilled whenever an RCMP officer would come to her Port Coquitlam elementary school. Like many grade five students across BC, young Bridgette was taking part in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.

“Before then I always thought about police officers as just pulling over cars, or chasing bad guys,” says she says “But when the DARE officer would talk with us kids, it made me realize police officers cared about us, and the choices we would make in the future.”

Years later, Constable Bridgette Lens says the grade five experience helped influence her decision to join the RCMP. Now 12 years after her DARE graduation, she’s come full circle and is teaching the DARE program herself in Whistler.

“When I was in elementary school, I didn’t necessarily understand the usefulness and importance of the DARE program. But in retrospect I can definitely see how the program positively impacted my life decisions throughout the middle and high school years,” she says.

Next week Cst. Lens and other BC RCMP police officers will be promoting drug awareness and the DARE program in communities around BC, to celebrate National Addictions Awareness Week.

BC RCMP has nearly 200 uniformed police officer dedicated to teaching DARE to approximately 12,000 elementary school students in 96 communities.

National Addictions Awareness Week runs Nov. 18-24

Source: RCMP website