D.A.R.E. To Be Different -- Glamorous Squad Cars Used By Snohomish County Police Officers Take Over A Piece Of The Drug Dealer's Status

The only thing these unusual police cars in Snohomish County have in common is the color. Deep black with brightly colored letters.

Lynnwood and Edmonds share a 1949 Rolls-Royce. Brier owns a Porsche 924. In Mountlake Terrace, officers cruise in a brand-new Ford Probe. Everett is putting the finishing touches on a stretch limo. Mill Creek has a Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 and Marysville a Chevy Corvette.

In Snohomish County, officers D.A.R.E. to be different.

Anything is game, say officers who work in the schools teaching kids to stay away from drugs. Being "cool" is part of the job.

And for most younger kids, snazzy cars are the epitome of cool.

"We are putting "cool" and "officer" in the same sentence," said Brier police Sgt. Dan Elfenson. "We are telling kids you don't have to be a drug dealer to have a car like this."

The cars are a tool, officers say.

They say it makes officers working in the various Drug Abuse Resistance Education programs in the county more approachable. It certainly helps them stand out.

"Call it marketing," Mountlake Terrace Cmdr. Larry Ankrum said. "Kids are impressed with cars and we are trying to get kids' attention."

These days, sporty D.A.R.E. cars have become a main fixture in the schools, local parades and festivals. During the Fourth of July parade in Edmonds, a caravan of the striking black D.A.R.E. vehicles drew some oohs and ahhs from as many adults as youngsters. And

D.A.R.E. officers don't mind trekking across the state to show off their cars.

Snohomish County law-enforcement agencies have become main players in a statewide trend to bring attention to the D.A.R.E. program with sporty or unusual cars. Most D.A.R.E. vehicles tend to be vans, usually purchased by the departments or donated by local auto dealers. The specialty vehicles in Snohomish County have been donated or seized from drug dealers.

But not everybody wants to put the D.A.R.E. decals on the fastest, most expensive car on the road.

"We are not into Mercedes or Cadillacs. It is not us," said Don Isley, police chief at Snoqualmie, a small town in East King County. "We have something that's cool with the kids . . . something the kids can relate to."

A Volkswagen Beetle.

"Everybody loves our bug," Isley said.

In Snohomish County, the casual observer could say that things are getting a little out of hand.

The bright red letters on black paint are appearing on just about anything that moves: A Community Transit bus, a cement mixer truck, a Boeing 747.

The black 747 is part of a promotional poster campaign, but the real plane, with several police vehicles parked in front of it, was never painted. Instead, the photo was air-brushed with the trademarked letters and black paint.

You won't catch Lynnwood officer Bob Myers with a dirty Rolls or without his shades.

"It wasn't in the best shape when we got it, but we try to keep it as sharp as possible," says Myers.

The 1949 Rolls, with license plates that read "DARE 1," was seized in 1987 in an Edmonds-Lynnwood drug raid. One of the signs typically displayed next to the car on festivals:

"Yes, you can make money selling drugs . . . but look who's driving it now."

It is probably the only D.A.R.E. Rolls in the country.

"The use of these vehicles is not unintentional," said Dennis Kelly, a D.A.R.E. officer for the Everett Police Department. "It is a way for us to keep that rapport going with the kids."

"What we have here is very unique," said Henry Simon, a Mountlake Terrace officer who recently returned from a national D.A.R.E. convention in North Carolina. "We are head and shoulders above everybody else."

Even the founders of the program, the Los Angeles Police Department, agree.

"They have one of the better programs in the country," L.A.P.D. Sgt. Bob Gates said.

D.A.R.E. America Inc., based in the Los Angeles area, has rights to its name and anyone who wants to use it must have permission.

Washington departments have made unusual requests, such as the 747, but no one has ever been denied.

"We have no restraints," he says, before correcting himself to exclude racing vehicles or anything that may even hint of tobacco and alcohol.

Whether D.A.R.E. is keeping kids off drugs remains to be seen.

"I think it is working," Myers said, acknowledging that there were no hard figures to back his statement.

But the cars have made a difference in attracting attention. Recently, when Myers took the Rolls for a spin, it was as if he was waving honey in front of a hungry bear.

People stared and a little girl smiled and waved as her mother inquired about the car.

"The car," Myers said, "is just a little extra flash. We are trying to sell an anti-drug message and if this works, great."