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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ FEBRUARY 2014
D.A.R.E. to rock
Robert Melendez of the Sea Girt Police Department – part
of Bradley Beach Local 50 – has recently won the Enrique
Camarena Award for his Project P
.A.C.K.M.A.N., a D.A.R.E.
program now in its twelfth year that gets together musically-inclined middle and high school kids every week to play
concerts and spread the word that music and drugs do not
have to go hand-in-hand.
The program – Police And Community Kids Music
Against Narcotics (P
.A.C.K.M.A.N.) – has helped hundreds
of kids over the last decade, and is now boasting its largest
class of 45 students, with 10 graduating at the end of the
school year. One current alumnus of the program is even
interested in becoming a State Trooper when he graduates
college.
The award is named for Enrique S. "Kiki" Camarena, an
11-year veteran agent of the DEA who was kidnapped, brutally tortured and then murdered in Mexico in 1985. Prior to
serving with the DEA, Agent Camarena was a firefighter, a
criminal investigator and a narcotics officer. He was a loving husband and a father of three children. His death has
inspired millions of Americans to lead a drug-free life and
the Elks celebrate his commitment to this effort with an
annual award.
Each year, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
(BPOE) presents the Enrique S. Camarena Award to a member of law enforcement who best exemplifies the qualities
and principles for which Agent Camarena gave his life.