Explorer Posts Work Closely With Police Departments

YOUNG PEOPLE EXPLORE POLICE WORK

Once They Are 16 And Have Earned Their Badge, They Receive Rights To A
Coveted Privilege: Police Ride-Alongs.

Cornelia McCoy got pulled over by a police car on a recent night and she
wanted to mess with the officer.

"Y'all get out and fight because I want to see what he's going to do," she
told three boys in her back seat. Excitement filled the car as Joe Burner
approached her window.

"Jump and bail! Jump and bail!" the boys screamed, throwing open the car
doors, tumbling out and scurrying across the parking lot like ants. When
they started to fight, Joe tried to break it up.

He got restrained by one of the "bad guys."

But Joe, unlike a real police officer, will get a chance to try again.
That's the beauty of Roanoke Police Department Explorer Post 616, which is
all about learning, practicing and playing.

Explorer posts fall under the umbrella of the Boy Scouts of America. The
posts, sponsored by public service groups such as police and fire
departments, allow young people ages 14 to 20 to indulge their fascination
with work such as law enforcement by exposing them to the field during
weekly meetings.

Both the Roanoke and Salem police departments sponsor posts. The Roanoke
post was started in 1992 for children throughout the Roanoke Valley, and at
least one former Explorer from each post has become a police officer, said
Sgt. Greg Staples, an adviser to the Roanoke post. Explorers wear special
uniforms and can even earn ranks such as captain, sergeant and lieutenant.

The post has about a dozen Explorers, including Mark Altman, 15, and his
13-year-old sister, Sara, who will join officially when she turns 14. Their
father, Billy Altman, is a Roanoke firefighter.

Marcus Ollie, 15, also has family ties to emergency services. His
grandfather, Lylburn Ollie, retired from the Roanoke Police Department in
2000 after 27 years.

Staples and Sgt. Chris Perkins are the post's advisers, and a few other
officers also volunteer with the Explorers. They include Sgt. Cornelia
McCoy, who played the driver in the recent traffic-stop role play.

At their meetings, the Explorers have played capture the flag at Highland
Park with night-vision glasses and learned about explosives from youth
detective Alan Williams. They have also written search warrants, done
building searches and played undercover vice officers arresting drug dealers.

The activities are not just for fun; they also help accomplish the
Explorers' main goal: to pass 16 subjects and obtain their Explorer badge.
The subjects include first aid, police department rules and regulations,
media relations, dispatching, traffic stops, firearm safety and how to wear
a uniform.

Explorers do not fire guns or handle loaded weapons.

After the class on each subject, Explorers must pass a test on what they
have learned. Once they have earned their badge and have turned 16 years
old, they receive rights to a coveted privilege: ride-alongs.

For William Fleming High School junior and admitted ambulance chaser Metia
Redd, 17, going on a ride-along with a Roanoke police officer was a
personal thrill. She has been on at least seven ride-alongs, she said. At
first, her mother, Tina Redd, was unsure about letting her daughter join
the post. She said she used to mistrust police officers because she had
seen them abuse authority and handle people unfairly. She assumed that many
officers were like that, she said.

But Metia's law enforcement craze soon reached the point where she would
yell, "Follow that ambulance! Follow that police car!" to her mother in the
car. Every time Metia heard sirens passing the house, she ran outside.

"She was driving me crazy watching 'Cops,' 'Rescue 911' and 'America's Most
Wanted,' and I wasn't interested," Tina Redd said. "I don't want to look at
that stuff."

When she gave in and let Metia join, Tina Redd met Sgt. Staples and decided
evil is not inherent in all police officers.

"You got your good and bad together, but I don't mind rules and order and
law," she said.

In the long run, Metia wants to be a forensic scientist in the law
enforcement field. Cary Kelso, 15, is determined to become a military
police officer, and 14-year-old Joe wants to work for the federal government.

Lofty goals, but not impossible for these kids. Some of them already juggle
school, extracurricular activities and part-time jobs along with the
Explorer post.

After the Roanoke police adopted its Community-Oriented Policing Effort in
the late 1990s, the Explorer post began to focus more on community
policing, too, volunteering at the Bradley Free Clinic and for such events
as the Special Olympics, Roanoke Drug Abuse Resistance Education camp and
National Night Out.

"Some people, they just don't think that it would be a fun thing to do,"
Sara Altman said of some friends. "I think it's just neat."