By Ellen Cameron
Staff Writer
Senior Michael Gonzales is negotiating a hostage situation when the unthinkable happens: the perpetrator decides he’s had enough talking, and, frustrated, decides to vent his aggression on one of the hostages. The violence is atrocious. On the cold floor of the weight room, the hostage dies.
Then the two come back to the meeting room, the teams rotate and the scenario begins again.
Hostage negotiations are only one of many topics Coppell Police Explorers covers. The group, the first of its kind in Coppell, has counterparts across the nation and is part of a program called Learning for Life, which aims to encourage young adults to explore law enforcement and good citizenship.
Police explorers began in 1973 as a non-Scouting subsidiary of Boy Scouts. In its relatively short history, the program has already greatly impacted the lives of local police.
“I was an explorer,” Coppell police officer Trevor Grisso said. “That led me to being in law enforcement, and I’m returning the favor by working with the boys.”
Grisso’s group began in October 2008 with 12 boys, which quickly grew to 18, but the young group hit the ground running; in 2009, the team competed in Texas Law Enforcement Explorer Advisors Association (TLEEAA) competitions, earning first place in two competitions and third in another, which was quite a feat, given the disadvantages the team faced in terms of size and funding compared to other teams. The team will compete again on April 10 at the University of Texas at Dallas and participate in 12 events hopes of advancing to nationals in Atlanta on July 19.
The team competes in topics that are considered duties of police. This includes the aforementioned hostage negotiation, but also extends to firearm safety, arrest and search, first aid, fingerprinting, basic handcuffing and crowd control. However, they also get an in-depth look at officers’ lives by shadowing police when they go out for duty in the “Ride-Out Program.”
Gonzales has been in Explorers since the program began and has had his fair share of interesting experiences when accompanying the police on their rounds.
“Normally, when we go on patrol we search alleys and streets to make sure nothing’s going wrong,” Gonzales said. “We’ll get calls about burglary in progress or car jacking, investigations, and usually in the afternoons we look for speeders with our radar guns and run tags of cars to see if they have warrants.”
The program in its entirety provides an excellent base for young adults who wish to pursue careers in law enforcement, which most do.
“Every explorer who joins has desire has desire to be officer, from municipal to in the FBI,” Grisso said.
200 CHS graduate and Captain Jon Macias is certainly one such explorer.
“I’ve wanted to be an officer since the 10th grade but wasn’t until end of 11th that officer Ledet told me [about Explorers], and then I showed up for first meeting,” Macias said. “It’s like studying for a career; you virtually get you as close to training for police career without attending academy as you can. All the explorers appreciate efforts of officers Grisso and Prater for help they provide”
However, a desire to join the police as a career is not mandatory; it’s highly encouraged that any young adults interested in law enforcement participate.
While explorers is open to anyone interested without a strict policy about joining, participants must meet certain qualifications, including being between the ages of 15 and 21 and maintaining passing grades or having already received a high school diploma or GED. Explorers also must meet personal history standards. The Police Explorers meet every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in a meeting room at the Coppell police station.
“We’re always accepting new participants,” Macias said. “It’s something to do, you can learn something new, and it’s fun. There’s a lot of stuff you can use even if you’re not an officer, like first aid and communication skills; there’s all kinds of stuff that can come from explorers.”
