Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Fire group attempts Explorers program

After seeing the success of the city's police with the project, the Fire Department will begin its version Oct. 1.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published August 17, 2005

PINELLAS PARK - The scene was reminiscent of boot camp with uniformed men laying down the law to new recruits.

"You guys have to want to be here."

"You're a representative of this agency once you join this post. You can't make the same mistakes your peers will."

But instead of an Army base, the scene was the Pinellas Park Police Department. The uniformed men were Pinellas Park police juvenile officers. The recruits were 13 teenagers applying for six openings in the department's Police Explorers program, a youth education program that the Pinellas Park Fire Department has decided to try.

The idea has been on the drawing board for years, said district chief Lou Sclafani. When Doug Lewis took over as fire chief earlier this year, he decided to make it happen, Sclafani said.

The program will be open to youth ages 14 to 21 who meet stringent requirements related to character, academics and program participation. Officials hope to have the program up and running by Oct. 1.

The ultimate goal will be to introduce young people to the skills firefighters use, Sclafani said. Some training will come straight from the books used at the Fire Academy. If any participants decide to become firefighters in Pinellas Park, that would be great, he said.

Fire officials hope the fire program will become as successful as the police program.

Police Chief Dorene Thomas spearheaded the program 23 years ago when she was the department's juvenile officer. It is open to boys and girls ages 14 to 21 who meet stringent requirements related to character, academics and program participation. The goal is to expose youths to the police profession.

And some of the participants have become officers with Pinellas Park or other departments, Thomas said.

The program has done less well elsewhere. Largo suspended its police Explorer program in 2003 after an investigation revealed hazing incidents among members. That program had also been enveloped in a sex scandal a few years before that.

Pinellas Park's police Explorers, however, have a better track record and have done well in state and national competitions this year. They had an overall win at a statewide competition in Orlando in June.

The competition, hosted by the Florida Association of Police Explorers, fielded 40 teams from around the state that were judged on their skill in traffic crash investigations, burglary-in-progress investigations, crime scene investigations, search and arrest, marksmanship, domestic violence investigations, crisis intervention and traffic stops.

The Pinellas Park team also won trophies for traffic crash investigations, burglary-in-progress investigations and crime scene investigations.

In July, the team went to a national competition in South Carolina and brought home seven trophies.

"We're proud of them because they are the good kids doing good things that don't get recognition often enough," Pinellas Park spokesman Tim Caddell said. "We're so proud of them."

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:09:16]