Gainesville Police Explorers Post 297 is currently recruiting new members who are between the ages of 14 and 20 to learn about potential future careers in law enforcement
Cpl. Jessica Van with the Gainesville Police Department said the program is a great way for teens to get real-world experience.
"Our explorers program includes several advisors that are actual officers," Van said. "They range from detectives, traffic units, K9s, patrol officers, and even people from our training division."
Van said the explorers meet twice a month and those involved in the explorers program go through scenario-based and classroom-based training during the meetings.
Aside from training, Van said members are also able to participate in activities with others in the police department.
"We do several things such as ride alongs, court procedures, receive up-to-date police training, they even get to go to conferences out of town," Van said. "They even get to work alongside our officers during city events and stuff like that."
While not all participants come out of the program finding themselves interested in a career in law enforcement, Van said they do usually find good career opportunities.
"We even have people that end up saying that they want to get into the medical field because service, in general, is what they enjoy," Van said. "Some of them have gone into the military, and then a good portion of them do end up going into the [law enforcement] career and starting at 18."
Van said applicants must be between the ages of 14 and 20, and they must have graduated from eighth grade. On top of this, explorers must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA and school, and must not have any felony or major misdemeanor convictions.
For more information, and to apply, email Gainesville Police Cpl. Drew Reed at [email protected]. You can also find the Gainesville Police Explorers on Facebook.
