Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Teens immersed in law enforcement careers through the Metro Explorers prep program

Metro Police Explorers

Steve Marcus

Metro Police Explorers Diana Lopez, 20, and Nayla Rodriguez, 18, make a mock high-risk stop during training at Metro headquarters Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

Metro Police Explorers

Metro Police Explorer Nayla Rodriguez, 18, barks out commands in a mock high-risk traffic stop during training at Metro headquarters Wednesday, March 15, 2017. Launch slideshow »

Makeup of the Metro Explorers

Programs

• Patrol: 89

• CSI: 14

• Dispatch: 7

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Gender:

• Male: 57

• Female: 53

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Race

• Hispanic: 65

• White: 37

• Black: 5

• Asian: 1

• Pacific Islander: 1

• Mixed race: 1

Learn more

For more information, visit lvmpdexplorers.com or exploring.org

“Driver, step out of the vehicle while facing away from me!” shouted Diana Lopez as she aimed a replica gun from behind the door of a Metro Police squad car. “Put your hands up! Two steps to your left! With your right foot, close the vehicle door!”

Several commands later, the 20-year-old cautiously approached the stolen-vehicle suspect and took him into custody.

The scenario, which played out on a recent Wednesday in a parking garage at Metro’s headquarters, was staged. Lopez, the backup officers and suspect were with Metro Explorers, a program that prepares local 16- to 20-year olds for a possible career in law enforcement.

For those not interested in becoming patrol officers, Metro’s program — spearheaded in collaboration with the Boy Scouts of America in the late ’70s — also is geared toward aspiring crime-scene investigators, corrections officers and dispatch operators. And all Explorers participate in regional youth competitions, volunteer at Metro events, help fundraise and participate in recruiting other prospects.

Of the program’s 110 participants, 65 are Hispanic. Officer Michael Rodriguez, an alum and now an instructor, says the trend is recent and unexplained.

Lopez is part of it, as is Evelyn Osnaya, 18, who says she “really, really, really, really” wants to be the first police officer in her family, to “change up” its history. And she not only dreams of becoming an officer, she wants to climb through Metro’s ranks to become a narcotics detective.

Osnaya is a first-generation American born to Mexican parents who immigrated to the U.S. to provide a better future for their children. She said she became interested in law enforcement by watching TV detective dramas such as “48 Hours,” and that her excitement has slowly engulfed her family.

Her father, a construction worker, recently started attending a Metro civilian academy and wants to be a volunteer with the agency. “He saw how much it affected me and how it changed me positively, (and) he decided to join himself,” said Osnaya, whose 16-year-old sister will soon follow in her footsteps as an Explorer, though she is leaning toward the civilian side in the dispatch program. Their 4-year-old sister plays cops and robbers, and it was their mother who first spotted an ad about the program online. “I saw all these pictures and a lot of kids with this exact uniform,” Osnaya says, pointing to her garb. “And I was like, ‘Oh, I want to wear that uniform.”

About a year later, Osnaya is in the program’s second of four phases, awaiting testing to advance. The process has not been easy, she says. In addition to Wednesday and Sunday meetings, Osnaya sets aside two hours every day to study and refresh her mind on police scanner codes.

The program demands not only mental chops but also physical stamina. “It’s so hard,” she said of the workouts. “But (the instructors) push you through life. They show you that there’s no quitting in life.”

In fact, they give every Explorer a dictionary and tell them to cross out negative words and focus on their goals. Metro also provides the teens, who go through background checks and must maintain good grades, the majority of their gear, but they have to buy their own pants, boots and police belt. That way, said Officer Eric Richard, “it gives them a little bit of skin in the game. You know, some commitment.”

Most Explorers don’t go on to become cops. “But that’s OK,” Rodriguez noted, saying that the program teaches maturity, responsibility, respect and accountability, which are valuable on any career path. He also said it’s better for young adults to find out whether law enforcement is for them early on, rather than going through the police academy and spending their time and the agency’s resources.

If Explorers do apply to become patrol or corrections officers, dispatch operators or crime scene investigators, their experience ups their chances of being hired, said David Fulton, a civilian instructor and events coordinator with Metro Explorers.

Rodriguez said that experience can be life-changing. He knows because he wanted to be a teacher when he was growing up in Ann Arbor, Mich.

“I can’t tell you enough how the program has helped me,” he said, adding that the instructors — most of whom were Explorers — are “very passionate about seeing the kids succeed.”

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