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Police officers are more than just ticket-writers and arrest-makers. They can be people you can confide in, too.

This is how Edwardsville Police Officer John Cullum sees his line of work, anyway, and this is why he decided to take the training course to become a D.A.R.E. officer at Edwardsville Elementary School. Cullum completed his two-week training course Oct. 22 at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and will take on his new duties as the D.A.R.E. officer in January.

“Honestly, I’m hoping to take it to a whole new level,” he says.

That new level Cullum sees for the program includes the inclusion of a D.A.R.E. car, just like many D.A.R.E. programs use, and also taking the D.A.R.E. lessons and modifying them to hit younger grades, as well. Most schools start the D.A.R.E. program at fifth-grade, but Cullum said targeting younger grades would give those students a head start when it comes to learning about the dangers of drugs.

“When they see me when they get to the fifth-grade level, they’ll know who I am and what I’m about,” Cullum said.

Cullum says he’s hoping to represent a different sort of man in uniform than those he was accustomed to when he was their age.

“Basically when I went to school, police officers were looked at like, whoa, you know, don’t cross (them) ‘cause you’re going to get in trouble,” Cullum said. “And I don’t want kids to look at us like that.”

Cullum says he wants students to feel like they can talk to him about anything, but he says he is also passionate about talking with youths.

“I like it a lot better talking to the kids than I do adults anyways,” Cullum said. “Kids want to know what you have to say, they want to hear what you have to say and they’re interested in what’s coming out of your mouth.”

As he gets ready to take on his new responsibilities, Cullum said he has more ideas than he knows what to do with.

“I’m really excited because I’ve got so many things swirling around in my brain that I want to get out and teach the kids,” Cullum said.

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