PLEA invites all officers, Department personnel, and city-wide employees to “Unlock the Phoenix Police Department Explorer Program” by participating in a fundraising cookout at PLEA garage grill on Wednesday October 6, 2010. The event will be at the PLEA office at 1102 W. Adams and burgers and hotdogs will be served for investment donations to directly benefit our Explorers. The grill starts cooking at 11:00 am and will be open until 1:00 am.
Explorer Post 2906 is one of the only police department community outreach programs for inner city youth between the ages of 14 – 21 years old that trains, mentors, and coaches, interested young adults to become high quality police recruits.
Explorer Post 2906 has reached out to inner city young adults and is currently 70% minority (Hispanic) and 34% female. Some of these young adults come from families that are less than supportive of their decision to become Law Enforcement Officers. These young adults have placed their faith in us and this program to help them achieve their dreams of becoming an officer someday.
Explorer Post 2906 is a 35-year-old program and has proven to be a successful recruiting tool for highly qualified recruits. The last study done in 2001 – 2002 showed that 14% of Explorers from Post 2906 became Phoenix Police Officers. When you consider the other posts nationwide, the number of prior police explorers from other agencies that hire on with the Phoenix Police Department sharply increases that 14%. There are currently (at least) 100 police officers working for the Phoenix Police Department that were Police Explorers at one time.
Because of the economic downturn we find ourselves in, the Department will be more interested in quality not quantity. The Explorer program will be the perfect place to go to find potential recruits. The Explorers have received police training, been on monthly ride a-longs, and have been mentored to be the most desired by the department.
Explorer Post 2906 turns in over 4000 hours a year of volunteer service to the police department and the City of Phoenix. These hours of volunteer service directly impact and offset the number of officers that are needed at many of the department and community events.
Police Explorer Posts are in partnership with Learning for Life, an international program for youth. Ethics such as integrity, self respect, respect for others, courage, obedience, discipline, and morals are taught on a consistent basis.
The Phoenix Police Department currently belongs to a network of over 2,019 other Police Explorer posts nationwide. It is a combined effort of all police agencies to groom their Explorers to become exceptional police recruits and ultimately excellent police officers. The Explorer program turns out high quality police recruits. These recruits, in turn, become role models and a reliable source of information for other officers. They have also been prepared to become leaders among their peers. Because Explorers have been mentored and coached during their explorer years they are less likely to become a problem for PSB (Internal Affairs).