Waller County Area Law Enforcement Explorers Program

Law Enforcement Exploring is a branch of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), but its members are not Boy Scouts. Rather, Explorers are young men and women ranging in age from 14 to 20 who are interested in law enforcement and criminal justice careers. The Explorer Program brings enthusiastic youths (including home schooled youths) together to participate firsthand in such activities as traffic and crowd control, crime prevention, security surveys and patrol ride-along programs. Explorers do not take the place of regular officers, but rather supplement them.
Explorers engage in a wide variety of activities, including bimonthly meetings with Federal, State, county, or local representatives of various law enforcement agencies. Some Explorers ride along with officers to observe field operations firsthand, while others are involved in departmental recordkeeping, radio communications, telecommunications, and crime prevention.

The integrated Explorer program emphasizes these areas:

Career development--Activities include patrol procedures, criminal and accident investigations, search-and-arrest policies, fingerprint classifications, crime scene searches, weapon safety demonstrations, and crowd control strategies.

Social skills--Activities include picnics and dinners; sports/recreation events; trips to beaches, lakes, and parks; meetings with officers' families; exchange visits with other Explorer posts; hiking, camping, and canoe trips; and survival training.

Community service--Activities include traffic control during community events, highway safety seminars, crime and drug prevention programs, missing-child rescue operations, property identification programs, and neighborhood watch programs.

Leadership skills--Activities include visits to a court, a judge, the city prosecutor's office, and a correctional institution; a mock trial; and a workshop on police-community relations.

Physical fitness and development--Activities include Explorer Olympics; physical agility courses; medical exams; instruction on stress and relaxation techniques; smoking, alcohol, and drug abuse education; and investigations into the effects of alcohol and drug use on highway safety.

After their initial basic learning and training phase, explorers will be able to assist the police department to maintain effective use of officer manpower and may assist with administrative duties such as filing and inventories. Explorers will also participate in child fingerprinting days at a local shopping mall; get involved in the community through senior citizen centers, bicycle rodeos, day schools and many other similar programs. In addition, Neighborhood Watch Programs enable the Explorers to meet personally with residents of the community and to explain Operation I.D. or such crime prevention measures as the difference between a single cylinder and a double cylinder dead-bolt lock.

Young people interested in becoming a member of the Waller County Area Law Enforcement Explorer Post 18 and adults wishing to apply as Civilian Facilitators and Mentors must contact the police department (936) 372-2525 for an application or come in person to the Waller Police Station, 1119 Saunders Street, for an application.