Belen Police Reintroduce Modernized DARE Curriculum, Train Officers for Schools

The Belen Police Department reintroduced a modernized Drug Abuse Resistance Education curriculum this winter, placing third-graders at Dennis Chavez Elementary and sixth-graders at Rio Grande Elementary into a 10-week course that Deputy Chief Mario Vallejos said costs $500 each time the department offers it. The $500 figure covers books, t-shirts, backpacks, prizes, graduations and related materials, department leaders told the News-Bulletin.

Two BPD officers and a district security supervisor are staffing the lessons. Joe Griego, the department’s school resource officer, and officer Miranda Gonzales are listed as the two official DARE officers, with Pauline Vallejos, Belen Consolidated Schools’ security supervisor, serving as one of the instructors. Pauline Vallejos is described by the News-Bulletin as one of only four civilians nationwide who is a certified DARE instructor, and she said, “This is huge for our kids; it’s huge for our community.”

The DARE revival in Belen follows a long gap: the department ran DARE in the 1980s and 1990s and stopped after longtime DARE officer Roy Gonzales retired. Deputy Chief Mario Vallejos told the Belen City Council last week that the department “got involved in the program and with Belen Consolidated Schools about a year and a half ago. We went to a couple of different conferences and found out the program still exists.” He described the “new” DARE as much more than the original “Just say no” message.

Belen Schools is contributing to program costs while the police department is actively raising additional funds to keep the lessons running, officials said. The News-Bulletin reported the department is seeking donations and other support to finance repeated 10-week offerings across the district; the article did not specify how many class cycles are planned this school year.

Certification and training differ across roles. The News-Bulletin explicitly confirms Pauline Vallejos’ certified-instructor status but does not state whether Griego or Miranda Gonzales hold DARE instructor certifications. Elsewhere, departments returning the program have required multi-day training: Douglas County Sheriff Nate Chaplin, who became a certified DARE officer in 2007, reintroduced the curriculum countywide after staffing allowed and said the program focuses on building relationships and referrals rather than arrests, noting “only about 3% of what we do actually results in an arrest.” In North Bend, Oregon, Officer Jerad Jaehnig completed a two-week certification in Salem and described the modern lessons as interactive, adding it’s “not even the same program at all.”

The DARE rollout arrives as Belen expands school safety staffing. KRQE reported this school year Belen Consolidated Schools has three school resource officers — Officer Kiana Garcia at Belen Middle School and Officer Sarah Martinez covering seven elementary schools — funded through a mix of city and district contributions, with an estimated cost of about $150,000 per officer and week-long SRO training in Albuquerque. BPD leaders say the department hopes the combined SRO and DARE presence will strengthen relationships between officers and students and position Belen as a model for similar rural districts.