D.A.R.E. Officer Retires After Decades at Mayfield Schools

If you went to Mayfield Middle School at some point between the early '90s and 2009, chances are you remember Dave Anderson.

"I had literally every student from the Mayfield system come through to me," the now-retired D.A.R.E. officer said. "That was pretty cool."

Anderson served the drug prevention officer at Mayfield Middle School during that period, along with at Lander Elementary School. He officially retired on June 1. 

"(Anderson served) with the highest degree of dedication, humility, loyalty and perseverance," Mayor Anthony DiCicco said at a city council meeting earlier this month. 

Council passed a resolution with those words and more, commending the former police department sergeant. 

Anderson began serving the city as a police officer in 1970. He brought the D.A.R.E. program to Lander Elementary, teaching fifth-graders about the dangers of drugs. Though he enjoyed his time with the police department, it came to a halt in 1994 when a knee surgery gone wrong hampered his ability to work.

"I was ready to take the lieutenant's test because they were grooming me to become an administrative sergeant," he said. "But (early retirement) opened the door to what I really wanted to do as a second career, being a teacher."

When his chief first mentioned the program to him, he had no idea what it was. Decades later, he knows drug prevention was his true calling.

"I loved the job, it was a perfect fit for me," he said. "In the '90s, I was looking to be a teacher, so it suited my needs."

DiCicco said Anderson's work helped "hundreds of students in the fight against drug abuse." 

Retirement is still new to Anderson, but he looks forward to vacationing with his family, including a daughter who teaches in South Korea and only makes it to the states once a year.