By Julie Slama | [email protected]

Driving down Draper City streets, a police SUV is sporting a patriotic look as stripes cover its hood and sides and stars cover the rear portion of the car. On the back is a lion wearing a graduation cap and a DARE T-shirt. 

Behind the wheel is Draper Police Detective Adam Neff, who teaches the DARE classes at the area elementary schools.

His ride’s new look was one of 125 elementary students’ designs. Fifth-graders from six Draper elementary schools were psyched to create and enter their drawings for a Draper Police vehicle wrap.

Of those entries, Draper Elementary fifth-grader Addison Hudson’s design was selected for the overall wrap of the police vehicle.

“I thought of America and I thought of the American flag so I put that around the car and then, I included the lion (that promotes the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program) with a DARE graduation cap; I drew different perspective of the car so he can see different ways on how I wanted it to work,” she said. “It actually came out exactly how I wanted it to look. Honestly, I really liked my drawing. I was really proud of it.”

Neff said that Addison’s entry stood out.

“She actually drew a whole vehicle, the car itself, and drew on the car the things she wanted the car to look like. It made more sense to me, and she did a fantastic job with it. I liked that she incorporated the kinds of things I was looking for with it,” he said.

To complement Addison’s drawing, Neff selected the badge drawing from St. John the Baptist fifth-grader Monica Keegan and placed it inside the letter O on Police on the side of the SUV. The design shows the DARE lion with the words, “Keeping It Real.”

The contest was to encourage the artwork based on the fifth-grade DARE curriculum from students at Channing Hall, Draper Elementary, Oak Hollow Elementary, St. John the Baptist Elementary, Summit Academy and Willow Springs.

“They were super excited and there were a lot of different drawings and options,” Neff said. “It was fun for them to have the opportunity to participate in something like this.”

This was the first time Draper has had a wrap on its DARE vehicle, although Neff said other DARE officers across the country have sported wraps. Neff said that Interstate Image and Design wrapped the vehicle at no cost to the police department.

After the vehicle was wrapped, Addison and her classmates were the first to go to the school parking lot to see it.

“My name is on the back and on the sides,” said the young artist. 

Addison, who has participated in the PTA’s Reflections program in the past, also took part in the police department’s annual holiday card design contest, taking second place. She said that she likes to make art using her imagination when she’s creative, but also can appreciate other artists’ talent.

“He told me that they added the badge from another student’s drawing, and when I saw it, I actually really liked it. It looks really good,” she said.

Neff, who has been in law enforcement for 15 years, is in his first year teaching DARE at the elementary schools; he is stationed at Draper Park Middle School.

“This is something that I’ve always thought would be fun to do. It’s a great gig. It’s really a hidden treasure that a lot of people don’t know about in law enforcement,” he said.

Through the curriculum, Neff teaches students about being responsible and safe.

“We talk about communication styles, being unsure and confident; we talk about peer pressure— there’s so many things that we talk about. In there, we give them resistance strategies when they come across things in the future, such as alcohol or drugs or vaping products and that kind of stuff. We educate them on that as well and give them all the tools beforehand, so they’re well equipped to be able to say no,” he said.

Addison learned that lesson: “You should never take drugs or alcohol because it can affect your body and health—like a lot.”

Neff said that through the contest, students gained ownership for the program and could say they were a part of the program.

“It’s something that they can remember,” he said.