Lakeland Police Explorers Compete in Statewide Explorer Competition

The Lakeland Police Department's Explorer Post 602 participated in the Florida Association of Police Explorer's State Competition June 8 - 14, 2008. The Post came in 10th place out of 28 teams (Capt. Gavin Baulac, Lt. Corey Wemer, Exp. Eric Dewitt, Exp. Ben Lashman) at the end of the week-long competition.

The Post members and Advisors participated in events ranging from a mountain bike competition to active shooter response. Listed below are each of the competitions and their placing. The state competition is a participation and learning event for the Explorers.

Over the Post's 30 years of service to the young adults in our community, many former members have become law enforcement officers at Lakeland and other agencies, so training and activities such as the State Competition are a very important part of the Post's mission. We are proud of the Post Explorers and Advisors.

1st place - Mountain Bike (trophy)
4th place - Crisis Intervention (trophy)
5th place - Traffic Crash (trophy)
9th place - Active Shooter
12th place- In Progress
13th place- Search and arrest
18th place - Traffic Stop
26th place - First Aid
Individual Mountain Bike - Gavin Baulac 3rd place (trophy)

- Lt. John Thomason

Comments

[Marshall Lord]

Way to go guys and gals on your 10th place overall finish at state. I know from experience how much work goes into preparing for competition. Good job also to your advisors. As a member of the 1989 Post 602 State Championship Team, I challenge anyone attending competition next year to join the ranks of champions.

Marshall R. Lord
Sergeant, Lakeland Police Department

[Erica Hollingsworth]

I enjoyed myself at State Competition...I think that as a team we worked well together and can't wait to see what we can do to improve ourselves to do better next year. I hope everyone had a great time and can't wait to see what the state has in mind for us this coming year as we prepare!
Thank you for your time and energy!
Erica Hollingsworth