Amsterdam Drug Prevention Project (From Cooperation Between the School System and the Police Force: The Second International ICRA-Workshop for International Practitioners, Esbjerg, Denmark, February 18-21, 1991, P 114-130 -- See NCJ-136767)

• NCJ Number: 136775
• Author(s): B J Scholten; I Postma; I Bas
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Rigspolitichefen
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: Denmark

Annotation

Since 1986, the police in Amsterdam, Netherlands have conducted a juvenile drug prevention program that brings groups of 12 children and their teachers to a police station to hold discussions with drug addicts being detained by the police.

Abstract

In 1989-90, 89 schools took part. Children ages 11 and 12 in the highest grade in elementary school take part in the program; it is voluntary for the schools, the police officers, and the addicts. To prepare for the program, police take part in a 3-day training course, teachers receive information packets, parents receive an explanatory letter from the police, and detained drug addicts are interviewed at length by discussion leaders. The conversation takes place in the access hall to the cells at the police station. The detainee is introduced by a fictitious name and answers the children's questions. After this discussion, the discussion leader asks the children to make drawings or write letters to the detainee. At school, the children evaluate the visit under the supervision of the teacher. A survey of 80 children who took part 2.5 to 3 years ago, as well as their parents, revealed positive attitudes toward the program.