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Pictured are (counter-clockwise from left) Snyder Police Officer Bailey Latham, Explorers Jonathan Velasquez, Jake Digby, Cheyenne Avila and Sgt. Lea Tarter during a mock crime scene exercise in October as part of the Explorer program.
Over the past seven months, members of Explorer Post No. 0261 have learned what law enforcement officers experience on a daily basis, and those in charge of the program hope to see it grow.
The Explorer program, which was started by the Boy Scouts of America, created its Scurry County post in conjunction with the Snyder Police Department in April with four participants. The group has grown to eight students.
Once a month, students from around the county meet at the law enforcement center to go through exercises based on the daily routine of police officers. They learned first aid, how to take fingerprints and how to handle a vehicle accident scene.
Zack Mullins, the district executive for the Lone Star District of the Boys Scouts of America Buffalo Trails Council, originally proposed bringing the program to Scurry County. He said the results have been beyond what he expected and said the students have been quick learners.
“They’ve been doing fantastic,” Mullins said. “I’ve been overwhelmingly impressed.”
With this being the first year of the program in Scurry County, neither Mullins nor the police department knew what to expect in terms of participation and whether the program would extend beyond 2016. Mullins said he hopes to see the program continue beyond this year and hopes the numbers grow even more.
“I would still like to see a group of 25 to 30 kids,” Mullins said. “It’s a useful tool for the police department, too, because these kids are basically being trained in police work.”
Police Cpl. Whitney Merket is the law enforcement liaison and said the students are eager to learn about law enforcement.
“They’re interested and they want to learn,” Merket said. “They’re all doing great. When we teach them, you can tell they’re gathering the information in their heads.”
One of the most important lessons the students are learning is to pay attention to their surroundings. In October, the students learned how to pull evidence from a staged crime scene. This month, the students will write incident reports based on the notes they took in October.
Police Sgt. Lea Tarter has helped at many of the meetings and said exercises like these will teach the students just how thorough and aware officers must be.
“Being observant is a huge factor,” Tarter said. “They’ll have to write a report based on their notes, so let’s hope they took good notes. It’s similar to what we go through. You might have to recall information from a crime scene at a trial, two months after the crime. You have to be detailed and articulate.”
Merket said many volunteers have helped the program, including paramedics from Scurry County EMS and a volunteer from Del Rio who came to teach CPR. Merket said she hopes the numbers continue to grow and hopes to take the program beyond the borders of Snyder and Scurry County.
“If we get our numbers up, they have Explorer post get-togethers and competitions,” Merket said. “We’d love to get with other counties and cities and do those sorts of things.”