Mayor Cecilia Patrón Laviada inaugurated the program “Safe Return to Classes with D.A.R.E,” an educational model taught by the Municipal Police to prevent addictions and violence among the student population, according to a statement.
“When we bet on children we are building a real change,” she said. “I am convinced that each action we take with the help of children contributes to a Mexico and a Mérida in peace, with environments conducive to personal development, which is what we want for all citizens.”
At the “Pedro R. Pinzón Sánchez” elementary school, in the Zazil-Ha neighborhood, activities began that sought to bring the community closer to the Police, raising awareness among students, teachers, and parents.
The program, it was indicated, is an ally of women, and mothers, in the education and comprehensive training of children to generate safer environments, mainly in vulnerable areas, breaking chains of addictions and violence.
“Our commitment from the Mérida City Council is to work 24/7, 4 by 4, to give them guarantees of having friendly public spaces. I am convinced that when there is will, when there is love, and when there is desire, many things are achieved,” she said.
In his speech, the director of the Municipal Police, Commander Rafael Jesús Chaires Cuevas, recalled that the preventive programs D.A.R.E., “You decide”, “Say no to violence in your relationship”, “Digital violence”, “School agents and guards” and “I help you and teach you how”, “Preventing family and gender violence”, as well as school visits, provide young people with the basic tools so that they know how to act in the face of addictions.
“We are aware that the seed of security germinates from the classrooms, with children and young people learning to live in a safe city, in communion, in harmony, and a framework of respect and responsibility within the same community,” he indicated.
He also added that the success of the program lies in the coordinated work between authorities, teachers, parents, and the media so that the work on addiction prevention is comprehensive and the information reaches the student and family community correctly.
