Youths find fun helping deputies

Instead of lounging on the beach, some teens have found challenges in Explorers and are setting themselves apart as the best in the state.

By MARY CARMICHAEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 17, 2000

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Lt. Samantha Allen walks into the conference room, her dull gray police uniform pressed and perfect, her hair swept back into a simple bun. She speaks with impeccable precision -- "um" and "like" don't seem to be part of her vocabulary -- and her eyes never wander.

It's easy to see why she bears the title of post commander, why the Sheriff's Office is so proud to have her, why she trains eight hours a day, six days a week.

It's a little harder to figure out why she isn't lounging by a pool somewhere, listening to the Backstreet Boys and gossiping about a crush.

After all, isn't that what teenagers do during the summer?

Allen is a leader of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office Explorer Post 916. She's also 17, and her professionalism shouldn't surprise people, says Cpl. Tim Spitzer of the Sheriff's Office. It runs in the Explorer family.

"The other young people are out enjoying their vacation," Spitzer says. But the 25 Explorers, ages 14 to 21, are busily attacking obstacle courses, helping deputies -- and winning accolades.

The Explorers hit the jackpot last week; they were the first Explorer troop to win the state's Golden Rule Award for community service, sponsored by JCPenney.

When she walked into the grand ballroom of Tampa's Wyndham Westshore Hotel on June 6 for the awards banquet, Allen didn't expect to leave it as a champion.

"It was a big category and a small chance," she said. "But we knew how much volunteer work we'd done."

Explorers meet at least once a week under Spitzer's direction and usually log about 6,000 hours in volunteer work every year, fingerprinting kids, staffing a charity golf tournament, delivering food to needy families and helping out deputies.

Their new award comes with a trophy, an 8-inch crystal flame on a black marble base that probably weighs more than 17-year-old Allen does.

It also comes with a $1,000 reward, which the Explorers are using to offset the cost of entering the national competition in Plano, Texas, this September.

If they win again, the ante gets upped -- they'll get $10,000 and yet another crystal award.

Right now, the Explorers aren't too concerned about it. They're concentrating on the annual state Explorer competition, which is coming up in two weeks. There, the teens will challenge 300 of their peers from 33 Explorer posts statewide. They'll investigate mock crime scenes, conduct a "search and arrest," even shoot down a couple of digitally created dangerous criminals.

The Pasco team placed in the top 15 last year -- Spitzer and Allen think it was either 13th or 11th, but they're not sure.

Either way, it wasn't first place, and that's what they want this year.

"We've never gotten the Holy Grail," says Spitzer. But they're after it this year, hence the intensive training. "Train, train, train," Spitzer says with a laugh.

If the Golden Rule award is any indication, all that training is finally starting to pay off.

-- Mary Carmichael can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6232 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6232. Her e-mail address is carmichael@sptimes.com.

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