Police Explorers score high
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on August 1, 2004 2:04 AM
Goldsboro Police Department's Boy Scouts Explorer Post 209 won its first national recognition last week at the 2004 National Law Enforcement Explorer Conference in Atlanta.
Three of the post's teams entered competitions. Team A ranked in the top 10 percent in the white collar crime event. Team A also competed in the hostage negotiation competition. Team A included Explorer Capts. Tyler McNeill and Sam McNeill, Explorer Cpl. K.B. Wright and Explorer Allan Neveu.
Team B competed in the arrest and search event. Team B included Explorer Sgt. Chris Gall and Explorers Ian Dillard and Brian Newsome.
Team C participated in the domestic crisis intervention competition. Team C included Explorer Sgt. Jonathan Petticoffer, Explorer Cpl. Stephanie Newsome and Explorer Chris Musser.
The conference featured several competitions sponsored by organizations like the FBI, the DEA, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Secret Service and others. The sponsoring organizations held a career fair at which law enforcement professionals were available to discuss career goals with the individual Explorers.
There were also demonstrations and exhibits, adviser training, many recreational and entertainment events and a closing rally at which area federal and other local enforcement organizations showed off the latest in law enforcement technology and techniques.
The competitions provide realistic and practical experiences to prepare the Explorers for the types of situations they would have to face in law enforcement careers.
Team competitions included arrest and search, bomb threat response, crime prevention, crime scene search, domestic crisis intervention, shoot-don't shoot, hostage negotiation, burglary in progress, traffic crash investigation, traffic stops, white collar crime and emergency field first aid.
A wide range of seminars gave participants information on topics like bomb investigation, cyber crimes, effective communications, executive protection, leadership development, fugitive investigations, hate crimes, narcotics trafficking and interdiction, self-protection techniques, protecting our national borders, psychological profiling and technology used in surveillance.
Attending the conference July 19-24 were 10 members from Post 209 and more than 4,000 other law enforcement explorers, their advisers and staff from throughout the nation. The conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology to provide training for the Explorers and develop in them the skills that are required in the law enforcement profession.
Leading the group from Goldsboro were Senior Explorer Adviser Trey Ball, an investigator with the Goldsboro Police Department, and Officers Donna Elliott and Eric Goins, who are associate advisers.
Founded in 1973, Law Enforcement Exploring is a program for youth aged 15 to 20 who are interested in the field of law enforcement. Nearly 50,000 young people belong to more than 3,000 Explorer Posts that are sponsored by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
For information about the Explorer Post call Ball at 580-4218 or Maj. Lee Szatkowski at 580-4249.