LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department is inviting local families and young people to learn about a new law enforcement Explorer Program during an open house Monday evening at the department’s headquarters in Meridian.
The event will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 8, at the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, 2500 Courthouse Blvd., located behind and west of the new Chick-fil-A off 22nd Avenue. No pre-registration is required.
The open house is being held in partnership with Scouting America’s Mississippi Riverlands Council and will provide information about the Explorer Program, which is designed for young people ages 14 to 18 who are interested in learning more about careers in law enforcement.
“We’re having Open House tonight,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Ward Calhoun said. “It’ll be an opportunity for parents, grandparents, and young people, or whoever the guardians of a young person might be, to come and find out about the Explorer Program. To find out about our department, find out if it might be a fit for their young person.”
Calhoun said representatives from Scouting America will be on hand to answer questions and provide applications for prospective participants.
“It’ll just be a good time to get some more in-depth information,” Calhoun said. “Having a program like this will give us the ability of taking a young person and helping them be able to see what it is that we do day in and day out, to understand more about how law enforcement can be a career option for them and give them an opportunity to begin to explore that.”
Participants in the program will be exposed to a variety of law enforcement disciplines, including investigations, traffic enforcement, crime scene processing, self-defense training and community service activities. Ride-alongs with deputies will also be included.
“Doing a ride along is an eye-opening experience for most people because it’s not what they sometimes think,” Calhoun said. “You can go a whole shift and it can be kind of boring, not much happening, and then you get in the car at other times, and it’s just wide open the entire time that you’re in the car.”
The sheriff said the program will combine classroom instruction with hands-on experiences.
“Letting them assist us at times could be a community event where we’re helping park cars or ball games,” Calhoun said. “The classroom part is going to be more about learning about the kind of things that we do and some of the things that we don’t do.”
Topics will include fingerprint analysis, evidence collection, blood spatter interpretation and other forensic science applications. The department plans to bring in experts from the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and other agencies to discuss specialized investigative techniques.
“You have investigators, you have forensics,” Calhoun said. “In the future we’re going to see where a person’s ability to utilize forensics in computers — and we’re doing that even today. With cellphones, devices in cars, all of these things are avenues for law enforcement to potentially have evidence.”
Explorers will also learn about interview techniques, traffic stops and firearms safety. Calhoun said trips to the firing range will be closely supervised and conducted under strict safety guidelines.
“They’ll have opportunities to talk with our investigators and talk about how you do interviews,” he said. “What’s permissible? How do you conduct yourself in an interview? How do you best get to the truth about something that has occurred?”
The program will also feature participation from the Naval Air Station Meridian Security Forces, giving students an opportunity to learn about law enforcement careers within the military.
In addition, Explorers will be able to assist with training exercises involving the department’s K-9 unit. Calhoun said K-9 Mark, who graduated from training school last week, will be involved in demonstrations and training scenarios.
“They will set up something where the student hides and K-9 Mark tries to find them,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun noted that similar Explorer programs previously operated through the sheriff’s department and the Meridian Police Department and have had a lasting impact on local law enforcement careers.
“There are several individuals in our department and other departments who, as a young person, were participating in the Explorer program that we used to have here at the Sheriff’s Department,” Calhoun said. “We know that it does have the ability to have an impact on a young person and help them think through what they might want to have for a career.”
To remain eligible for the program, participants must maintain at least a C average in school.
For more information, interested families can attend Monday evening’s open house or contact the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department and Scouting America’s Mississippi Riverlands Council.
