 |
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist
Police Officer Ursula Ortiz-Namoca watches Officer Chris Michaels' every move. When he turns his back, she hurls a pen at him. He whirls around, but he can't figure out where the Bic attack came from.
Ortiz-Namoca is one of the mentors in the DARE (Drug Awareness and Resistance Education) program. She helps train police officers to become DARE officers, and a large part of the training is learning classroom management techniques.
"Never turn your back on your class," Ortiz-Namoca says. "If they want to cause terror, they're gonna' do it. When you write on the chalkboard, always stand sideways. That way, at least you know where the projectile came from."
For the past two weeks, police officers from the Honolulu, Maui County, Kaua'i and Hawai'i County police departments, as well as military police officers, have been learning the DARE curriculum and training to become certified DARE officers.
The last days of their training are spent in practice sessions. Each officer has 45 minutes to lead a class. The other officers role play as elementary school students. The idea is to get some classroom experience before getting in front of actual kids. In order to get the most mileage from the practice sessions, the other officers are instructed to "act up" like a bratty class.
And they're merciless.
"Describe what peer pressure looks like, sounds like and feels like," Officer Vanessa Munoz instructs her class.
"What do you mean 'looks like?' "
"Like, what would it look like if someone said to you, 'Hey chicken?' "
"So we're supposed to draw a chicken?"
Munoz doesn't lose her cool, although during her evaluation, she admits that they almost got her.
"They find out that after teaching 6 classes a day, they're worn out. They don't have a voice left. But they enjoy it." says Sgt. Coby Tatsuyama.
The DARE training usually takes place on a school campus during summer break. This year, the bulk of the training for 16 new officers was held at Iroquois Point Elementary school. It was a nice fit, since school principal Bob Elliott has been a Honolulu Police officer in active reserves for 22 years. He understands what it's like to go from enforcement to prevention.
"It's tough. It's like changing your whole mind set to be understanding, to listen, and not to refer to them as 'little suspects' but as kids. Some of them are naturals. Others are like, 'Oh all right. I'll be nice.' "
Says Ortiz-Namoca: "I tell them, yeah, Mr. Big Brawny Policeman, you think you're the man now. Wait until you get in the classroom and one of the kids comes to you with a problem. You're going to find yourself crying right along with that child."
The DARE officers have to learn to handle very pointed questions, to build trust and to use discretion when dealing with little kids with big problems. The students are instructed to use the words "someone I know" instead of a person's name when sharing a story and are told to answer only the questions that they feel comfortable answering. Still, some very personal information can surface — stories of drug use and alcoholism in the home, of abuse and neglect — and the DARE officers have to deal with that information very gently.
"As a cop in the classroom, you have to be careful because if they're talking about Mommy and Daddy using drugs, you're not going to go bust Mom and Dad," Elliott says. Instead, the police officers notify the school counselor and go through the school's set procedure for dealing with such matters.
The highest goal of each DARE officer is to become a responsible, trusted adult in the lives of children who may not have many solid adults in their lives. To do that, it often takes more than the 10-weeks of 45-minute classroom sessions. For Ortiz-Namoca, it takes showing up for school May Day programs, dressing up for school Halloween parties, spending lots of her own time on campus, buying the kids school supplies with her own money, even baking treats for her students. She once baked 1,200 cookies so she was sure all her kids would get enough.
"People think of DARE as a drug prevention program," she says, "but my philosophy is that it's a program that teaches decision-making skills, builds self-esteem, and helps them learn to make good social choices. Kids all know drugs are bad. We don't have to teach them that. The honest fact is that some of the kids know more about drugs than the officers do. ... You know you're making a difference when a child comes up to you and asks for your help."
HPD rotation policy mandates that DARE officers be re-assigned to another department after five years in the classroom. Though none of the DARE officers wants to speak out publically about this policy, it's clear they don't like it. Five years isn't long enough to see their "babies" through school. After five years, they get really good at teaching. Then they have to move on.
Ortiz-Namoca instructs the new officers to walk the line between maintaining order in the classroom and letting the kids know their hearts are in the job. If they act up, nail 'em, she advises. Start out firm with your rules. And if you say you're going to show up, you'd better be there because a lot of these kids don't need another adult in their lives breaking promises.
"We can't save them all," she says wistfully, her eyes far in the distance. Just when you think maybe she's not as tough as she looks, she adds, "but we'll try."
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.
