Law Enforcement Exploring

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Law Enforcement Exploring or Police Explorers is a volunteer program designed for young adults interested in law enforcement. This program gives young people, ages 14-21 (may vary), the chance to explore a career in law enforcement or simply learn more about the job. Many individuals have used the explorer program as a stepping stone into professional law enforcement careers.

While the program has been operational in the US for over a half century, Exploring is now run as Learning for Life (LFL), a branch of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). They also sponsor Exploring in other careers, such as law, fire, medicine, aviation, and science. Police agencies that want to run a similar program independently generally refer to their organizations as "Police Cadets".

Each post is unique and depends on department policy and guidelines to determine activities and training. Some typical activities include uniformed patrol ride-alongs to observe officers at work, classes on law enforcement topics, and interacting with public during street fairs, parades, or other civic events. Some posts specialize in or contribute to Explorer Search and Rescue missions.

Every two years, Learning for Life hosts a national conference for Law Enforcement Explorers. The conferences include role-playing scenarios that law enforcement officers regularly encounter, seminars, and networking opportunities. In 2006, the conference was held in Flagstaff, AZ at the Northern Arizona University Campus. More information here: [1].

Exploring (Learning for Life)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Exploring (Boy Scouts of America))

Jump to: navigation, search

This term should not be confused with Explorer Scouts, the UK equivalent of Exploring.

The Exploring program was once one of the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA's) programs for youth 14-21. Currently, Exploring is a vocational program and part of the BSA's Learning for Life, while the BSA's Venturing program is a Scouting program for older youth. Exploring units, called "Posts", usually have a focus on a single career field, such as police, fire/rescue, health, law, aviation, engineering, or the like, and may be sponsored by a government or business entity.

History

The Exploring program has a long history within the BSA. The program got its start in the 1930s as the "Senior Scout" program for boys 15 and older. The Senior Scout program included the Sea Scouts, Air Scouts, Explorer Scouts, Rover Scouts and a few others. Explorer Scouts focused on advanced camping and worked on advancement leading to the Ranger Award. Sea Scouts and Air Scouts were nautical and aviation focused programs, respectively.

In 1949, the Senior Scout program became the Explorer Program. Sea Scouts became Sea Explorers, Air Scouts became Air Explorers, and Explorer Scouts became just Explorers. The Explorer program became less of an advanced outdoor program, and more a broader program for older youth. They got a new advancement program leading to the Silver Award. Also, the minimum age was lowered to 14.

In 1959, the Explorer Program became the Exploring program. Explorer advancement was dropped. In 1964, the Air Explorer program was eliminated, and the Sea Explorer program had changes made. The program was further changed to be more appealing to older youth, with career exploration becoming a bigger part of the program.

In 1969/71, the BSA allowed Girl Scouts of the USA and Camp Fire Girls to join Exploring, then made the Explorer program fully co-ed, and raised the upper age to 21. After this time, Exploring started to focus more and more on career exploration, though outdoor oriented Posts still existed.

In 1998, the Exploring program was split. All the career-oriented posts were moved to Learning for Life, while the rest became the new Venturing (Boy Scouts of America) program. Exploring is now a worksite-based career education program for young men and women 14 through 20 years old.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts

Boy Scouts of America

A Scout is:

trustworthy,
loyal,
helpful,
friendly,
courteous,
kind,
obedient,
cheerful,
thrifty,
brave,
clean, and
reverent.

Girl Scouts of the USA

I will do my best to be

honest and fair,

friendly and helpful,

considerate and caring,

courageous and strong, and

responsible for what I say and do,

and to

respect myself and others,

respect authority,

use resources wisely,

make the world a better place, and

be a sister to every Girl Scout