By Duane St. Clair

With the rookie year officially over, the Westerville Explorers Post 29 has much to be proud of.

Beginning its second season Aug. 3, the post now boasts 29 members (19 more than its first year). After spending 12 months introducing youths to real life police work, the post has seen the first of its members enter college to study criminology so they may seek careers in law enforcement.

Sam Kennedy, 18, who graduated from Westerville North High School in June, says he will continue with the program for a while, at least while he studies at The Ohio State University’s Newark campus.

Kennedy says he wants to be a police officer, perhaps in Westerville, after he graduates. He got involved with the Explorer unit because he felt “it would help me get more experience before I went off to college.”

Matt Scott, 18 and also a Westerville North graduate, attends the Indiana University of Pennsylvania to study criminology and says he expects to participate with the post during summer breaks. He expects to enter police work, too, before perhaps joining a federal law enforcement agency.

“The FBI’s minimum age is 25 and they usually want experience,” he says.

These are prime examples of the program’s purpose, says Cpl. Justin Alloway, who supervises the Explorer post. Before a promotion and assignment as a night patrol supervisor, he was the resource officer at Walnut Springs Middle School, one of three officers assigned to the middle schools. He helped organized the post while on that assignment.

The post is chartered by “Learning for Life,” an arm of the Boy Scouts of America. The explorers, however, are not Boy Scouts. Being chartered insures the group in the event of injury to a member, Alloway explains.

Alloway says post members first attend the Youth Police Academy, a one-week summer session that gives them a quick overview of police work and the Westerville Police Division. The academy is promoted at job fairs at Westerville North and South high schools, seeking teens who are “really interested in law enforcement” (Westerville Central is excluded because it’s not in the city). Acceptance into the academy requires a lengthy application and a background check. The new explorers are from this summer’s academy.

To meet national Explorer requirements, members are supposed to be at least 14 years of age and in the 9th grade, although Alloway permits a little leeway. Overall, Alloway says he keeps the program strict by requiring members maintain a 2.0 grade point average.

“We try to make it reasonable for them,” Alloway says. “We do require some commitment out of them. We are making a commitment to them.”

They attend two-hour explorer sessions at police headquarters, usually weekly unless the post is involved in some outside activity. Last year’s members will go through many of the same classes because repetition helps them remember what they’re taught, Alloway says. The seasoned members will also help lead and supervise activities.

Explorers learn procedures such as traffic stops, body searches, first aid and crises intervention. Often volunteers from the division’s Citizens Police Academy for adults and the police force help stage situations so the young students can learn how to react.

“They get hands-on experience. They get bored in a classroom,” Alloway says. “If they’re going to make the commitment, I want to give them experience.”

Experience also comes from volunteering at public events, such as Fourth Fridays, the yearly Serving Our Seniors event and a “Cops and Kids Day.” At the annual Bike Safety Rodeo police sponsored in May, explorers helped participants in kindergarten through third grade complete riding tests and other tasks.

The post also participates in competitive events with similar troops, testing skills at police procedures they have learned. Last year’s competition was for Ohio troops. The next one will be next summer in Atlanta, a national event held every two years. Members raise funds to defray expenses by selling hot chocolate in the fall at Fourth Fridays or selling Boy Scout popcorn.

Gabe Reinoehl, 13, an eighth grader at Genoa Middle School in his second year as an explorer, says his grandparents attended the Citizens Training Academy and talked him into enrolling.

“Then I heard about the Explorers,” he says. “I’m going to stick with it.”

Michael Newman, a 14, a Heritage Middle School eighth grader, says he’s interested in law enforcement because of his uncles, who work in the field.

“Just helping people is the main goal,” he says. “It’s nothing like on TV.”

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Westerville Magazine.