2006 National Law Enforcement Explorer Conference

For the week ending on Friday, July 14, 2006, I was in Flagstaff, Arizona for the 2006 National Law Enforcement Explorer Conference with the Oro Valley Police Explorer Post #2011. First, some history:

I joined the post after my freshman year in high school, drawn by a picture in the newspaper of kids around my age in SWAT uniforms. I was accepted into the post immediately following a regional competition at Old Tucson. However, some of the command staff retired as I joined, leaving me stranded in a crippled post. We trained hard, and did the best we could, however, we went through many members and hardships before we were able to go to another competition. You see, our post is very liberal, and often times we just sit around discussing new ways to make us safe and miserable. Things began to look up when I was promoted to corporal, and my voice began to matter. I pushed as hard as possible for the National Conference

And we trained hard. Hard because we had to work around the last months of school and summer vacations and other jobs. Hard because we were expected to fail. Hard because myself and the lieutenant were the only remaining members since the last time we had a competition -- and we couldn't be around that much to help train!

But somehow, we got there. My team (Alpha) consisted of Lieutenant Felice, Sergeant Woodward, Sergeant King, and myself. Team Bravo consisted of Corporal Martino, Explorer Kirby, and Explorer Steinmetz.

On the first day, we checked into the dorms at Nothern Arizona University, and walked around the campus to get an idea of what was going on. We attended the opening rally, and met the three candidates for Youth President. Cory Jackson, the man who will probably win, was insane. He had that sharp southern drawl, but practically shouted his speech with such an energized conviction that he whipped us all up into a frenzy! He even did his trademark move: pointing his fingers as if they were a gun! So, basically, Cory Jackson is the Chuck Norris of the Law Enforcement world.

On the second day, we walked around and attended some seminars. We also talked a lot about Jump Club. What's this Jump Club I speak of? A techno rave, held every night at 9pm in the Student Union! And, just for us, came complete with excellent DJs, lasers, two big screens showing visuals, two gangs, and a plethora of 14 year old girls pretending to dance! It kind of burned our eyes. But Elijah loved it -- he's a techno freak. Then we trained and trained until we felt like we could take on the world.

On the third day, we went to war. Hardcore. We geared up, psyched up, and lined up. We were assigned to the Arrest and Search scenario by the DEA:
-Arrest warrant for Kim Thompson.
-Search warrant for his dorm hall. Search is to include any materials used for the sale, manufacture, or packaging of narcotics, including but not limited to any drug paraphanelia, and any materials related to the website and the business "White Bull."
-An informant came to the DEA explaining that White Bull markets methamphetamines to NAU students as legal supplements through the website.
-Team Alpha of the Oro Valley Police Department had to go in and serve the warrants.
So we stack up outside Kim Thompson's door, and announce: "This is the Oro Valley Police Department, come out with your hands up now!" A voice replies, no. "Police Department -- open the door and come out with your hands up -- do it NOW!" Agitated, the voice within again refuses. We announce a third time, our command presence never wavering. A man fitting Thompson's description opens the door.
Myself, Sgt. Woodward, and Sgt. King hold him at gunpoint and issue our orders for compliance while Lt. Felice covers the hallway. The man is not phased at all by us, and retreats into his room. We can only scream for 30 more seconds before we've had enough. Sgt. Woodward holsters his weapon and flies into the man in one fluid movement, but already we can see it will be a tough fight. The man is, in Sgt. Woodward's own words, "A mountain with a face -- nevermind a man." An ex-linebacker, and 250 lbs. of muscle, he towered above us, unyielding even to our most fearsome commands.
After ten seconds of watching my sergeant wrestle The Hulk, I step into the room, but I have to back out as the man swipes at my gun. So Sgt. King holsters his weapon and launches himself into the melee. The two sergeants finally forced the man to the ground with a thunderous THUMP! and handcuffed him despite his awesome efforts to resist.
We could not verify who he was except by visual comparison to a picture of Thompson. Thompson continued to spew alibis, and I had him placed into a squad car but held at the scene for questioning. Meanwhile, the rest of my team moved ahead into the next room, whereupon they found another man, and detained him because he was armed. We held him for questioning too, and ran his ID, which came back negative. So these men were connected with White Bull -- now we just needed the evidence to prove it.
I couldn't help but smile as Lt. Felice, Sgt. King, and myself walked into the room and snapped on gloves. This was CSI time. We gave the rooms the type of crime scene investigation that Gil Grissom wouldn't have been able to pull off himself. We recovered several pounds of powder, as well as bank statements, a large, undefined sum of money, a cellphone, and the laptop that ran the website. We also took into possesion two illegal firearms, and a soda can with possible traces of narcotics.
It was a total success. The DEA agents loved us, and, more importantly, we loved us!

Later that night we were treated to a show by Chriss Bliss, the famous comedian, and a very famous and world-renowned ventriloquist named Ron. The show was pure awesome!

The next day, my team had our last event. We had to give a Crime Prevention schbiel to a panel of judges acting as concerned citizens attempting to initiate a Neighborhood Watch program. We didn't do so hot on the multiple choice test, but we used the information from that to form our presentation; we had no idea what we were doing before we took that test. So, making it up as we went along, we gave a roughly organized, but highly informative presentation. Again, they loved us, explaining that we are one of the more personable posts at the Conference, and one judge even used the term "phenomenal!"

Bravo Team did ok. Their first event was a domestic violence issue, which they eventually got under control after being assaulted by flying objects and denying backup. Then they had a crime scene search, and they limped on without me, knowing that I'm the CSI geek. They missed the bullet casing in a possible suicide. Ah, well.

So we attended some more seminars, minus our Lt. Some of us even checked out booths from other Explorer Posts. The Helena, Alabama Post actually has one post for its normal members, and a post for SWAT Explorers. They also have a ridiculously tricked-out H2, complete with flashing blue lights, pitch-black windows, 24" rims, and an Xbox 360. Filthy stinkin' rich, all because of that darned Cory Jackson!

On Friday, we witnessed an amazing demonstration put on by local and federal law enforcement agencies. However, it was the US Marshals' Special Operations Group that really rocked out world. They started off with some tactical driving demonstrations, including a top-heavy prisoner transport van and security car in formation doing high-speed, forward and backward 180's. Then they set up for an assault on a house that we could all see into. First the sniper team in the hills popped yellow smoke so we would know that they're there, but nobody would be able to tell without the smoke. Then the assault team pulled up in the Armored Personnel Carrier, and stacked up away from the house. The breaching team packed explosives into the front door, while another man rode around to the back on an ATV. He placed a gallon of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (an ANFO bomb, to those of you familiar with the Oklahoma bombings), and set it off in the "backyard."
Despite the fact that we were 50 yards away, there was a bright flash of light as an impossibly large fireball raced towards the sky, and we were blasted with a wave of broiling air as the shockwave pounded our chests. It left a crater in the football field of NAU, where they had set this all up. One second after the diversionary explosive went off, the sleepy university was rocked by another explosion -- this time from the front door. It blew apart with a loud bang, and the assault team rushed in. In each room they dropped flashbangs, so now I know what they're like in real life, and I don't want one tossed into my room!
So, I saw some very neat stuff, including the bomb disposal robot, which (quite loudly and suddenly) disposed of a bomb in the middle of the field.


Hopefully, the post will begin to send me more media so that I can make a nifty promotional video for the Oro Valley Police Explorer Post #2011.