DA’s office to use Peabody student videos for training

PEABODY – The Essex County District Attorney’s Office has taken possession of two videos produced by Peabody Veterans Memorial High School Students. The students willingly handed over the videos, and no charges will be filed, as the videos contained very valuable information.In fact, the DA’s Office was so impressed with the content that they’ve decided to use them as part of their training programs.”It’s just an extremely impressive video,” said Stephen O’Connell, spokesman for the Essex County District Attorney’s Office. “They are to be commended for taking the initiative to try to keep their classmates safe.”As part of Red Ribbon Week, Health and Athletics Director Phil Sheridan came up with two creative ideas to help his students become aware of the negative effects of drugs and alcohol. He had students recreate a skit found in “Choose 2 Refuse,” a heroin and OxyContin prevention program, with their own creative twist, and re-enact the scene of a fatal drunk driving accident. Students from the drama class acted in both, while television production students caught the action of film.”I invited the DA’s office over when the video was finished for them to meet the kids and see the video,” Sheridan said. “They were just flabbergasted. They said it was tremendous and asked if they could use it for their training.”School Principal Ed Sapienza happened to be at one of those training sessions where the videos were aired.”I was amazed,” he said. “The whole thing was so professionally done.”Each video runs about 10-12 minutes and includes edited footage and narration. Sapienza said it was so well cut, one might think it was an actual news broadcast.According to Sheridan, some of the students started to cry when they saw the final product for the first time.”It was a very sobering experience for these kids,” Sapienza said. “Especially because it was peer to peer, the kids could really relate to it.”O’Connell said that the DA’s office has already begun using the heroin and OxyContin video in their main office to train educators and police. Having just received a copy of the mock car accident, they’re still discussing ways to use it.”Its very powerful,” O’Connell said. ” We’re exploring ways to incorporate it into our educational efforts around underage drinking.”Sheridan said the faculty within the television studio have recommended packaging and selling the video to raise money for the high school program.”I don’t know whether we can do something like that,” he said. “But it’s that good that people think we can.”