This past July, Community Patrol Sergeant Donnelly from the Greenville County Community Patrol Division with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office took three young cadets from the Explorer Program to the National Law Enforcement Explorer Program Conference at Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado. It was here that they competed with over 4,000 teenagers from 50 states including Puerto Rico for a chance to bring home a trophy from one of the twelve events featured at this conference.
Cadet Captain Quinn, Cadet Major Beutler, and Master Cadet Bostic competed in three events, but the Traffic Car Stop event was the one that gave them the opportunity for the 1st Place trophy.
In their briefing period, they decided to arrest the suspect to acquire more points, and focused on preparing to work safely and efficiently as a unit.
Then the scenario began. The suspect ran a red light, and the Cadets arrested him. Cadet Captain Quinn ran the license plate and discovered that it belonged to another vehicle, and driver’s license, insurance, tag had all expired. He searched inside the car and the judge said all was clear.
At the same time, Cadet Major Beutler did a full body search, shoes and socks, of the suspect and Master Captain Bostic assisted in being the eyes and ears for his fellow cadets- making sure they were safe during this operation.
At the end of the scenario, the cadets had finished the 40-minute event in 12 minutes! “We knew what each other was thinking. We multi-tasked as a team to get the job done faster,” states Cadet Captain Quinn. In their debriefing, the Explorer Cadets received positive feedback from the judges.
At the closing ceremonies, the top five teams lined up anticipating who would receive the sought after trophy. When the Cadet Explorers saw the next to last team receive the 2nd place award, they knew the prized 1st Place trophy belonged to them! “It was a proud moment for our team, and we were all overjoyed to win this trophy,” exclaims Cadet Captain Quinn. “I was very proud of my Explorer Cadets. They used their heads and adapted the training they had received to this situation,” affirms Community Patrol Sergeant Donnelly.
A week later after returning home, Community Patrol Sergeant Donnelly calls each of them to say that Greenville County Sheriff Loftis wanted to give them an accommodation for their job performance at this conference.
The Explorer Cadets came to the monthly Command Staff meeting at Greenville County Law Enforcement Center where Greenville County Sheriff Loftis shook these three Explorer Cadets’ hands and presented them with their accommodation. “I was nervous being in front of 30 Majors, Lieutenants, and Sergeants, but I was ecstatic and grateful to Sheriff Loftis for recognizing our hard work,” exclaims Cadet Captain Quinn.