CITY POLICE GET GRANT FROM STATE D.A.R.E. PROGRAM

HAMILTON -- As drug abuse continues to plague the country, the Hamilton
Police Department took steps Thursday to arm themselves with
additional ammunition to help fight the war on drugs.

The ammunition came in the form of a $44,975 grant, which was awarded
to the HPD for the 2005-06 school year from Attorney General Jim Petro
- -- as a part of Ohio's Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

The grant is a portion of the more than $3.5 million being divided
amongst 216 law enforcement agencies statewide. The money will be used
to pay up to half of the specially trained D.A.R.E. officer's
salaries, according to police officials.

"I appreciate the dedication of the officers at the HPD to Ohio's
D.A.R.E. program," Petro said. "The success of D.A.R.E. is a direct
result of the officers who work diligently to empower Ohio's children
with the knowledge and self-confidence to steer clear of drug and
alcohol abuse."

Hamilton Police Chief Neil Ferdelman said the additional funding from
the D.A.R.E. program will help officers fight the war on drugs.

"I think that drugs are a problem that just aren't going to go away in
our lifetime," Ferdelman said. "We attack drugs from the enforcement
side, but the education side is just as if not more important.

"We think if we can get the message across to our children before they
are exposed to drugs and give them some tools to help them it can
really change the future for the better," he said. "We think it's a
very important program. We're committed to it.

"The reviews we get from the teachers, the kids and the parents show
that it's a program that's well worth its weight," Ferdelman said.

Petro along with the D.A.R.E. Grant Advisory Board awarded grants to
fully fund every law enforcement agency that applied, officials said.
The amount of grant money for each agency is calculated in part by the
funds requested along with the size of the agency, according to officials.

Of the 216 agencies, 50 are sheriff's offices and 166 are police
departments. Out of 88 of Ohio's counties, 66 are participating in the
program.