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When a ship takes on enough water, it will sink, no matter how valiant the efforts of its crew to right it.
The analogy fits the situation of the Largo police Explorers post.
Members of the Largo Police Department had worked to make the post successful after a sex scandal broke in the Police Department in 2000. Media reports charged that in the 1990s, the Explorers post was known as a "dating service" for Largo officers and several officers dated or had sex with teenage female Explorers. No one was charged, but one Largo officer resigned, several were disciplined, and then-chief Jerry Bloechle retired.
After the investigation was completed, the post continued to operate and Largo officers volunteered to work with the young people. Police Explorers is a Boy Scout program for boys and girls that offers police-style training and skills competitions. Explorers sometimes go on to careers in law enforcement.
But trouble arose again this year after eight of the Largo post's 22 Explorers attended an overnight conference in Palmetto. The Largo Explorers ran around the hotel committing pranks on Explorers from other communities. They hazed their own members by handcuffing them, spraying them with water and shaving cream and even dressing one boy in women's clothes and makeup against his will. One girl was photographed in her underwear.
Largo police Chief Lester Aradi started investigating after he heard about the behavior from advisers who were on the trip. He ejected several Explorers, disciplined others and suspended the program so he could think about its future.
Last week Aradi announced that he would not restart the Explorers post, but would disband it permanently. He encouraged the dozen Explorers interested in remaining in the organization to join the post sponsored by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
It was the right decision, though a difficult one for Aradi, who said, "I truly, truly believed in the program." But the Largo post had taken on too much water. Events had proved twice that the Police Department was not able to provide appropriate supervision of the young people in the post.
Aradi realized that supervision would be even more difficult now that his department is stretched thin. Budget cuts have eliminated some civilian positions, and Largo's feverish pace of annexations has led to a substantial increase in calls to the Police Department.
Maintaining the Explorer program simply was no longer worth the risk.