By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–For nearly 20 years, the Helena Police Explorers program has been an impressive group of young men and women that strive to one day work in the law enforcement field.

The Helena Police Explorers consist of members between the ages of 14-21 that are interested in law enforcement where they receive hands-on training to help better prepare them for a career in the field.

A large part of the hands-on training comes from national competitions and most recently, the Helena Police Explorers came away with numerous accolades.

Because of their success, the explorers were honored at the Jan. 8, Helena City Council meeting after coming away with two first-place trophies, three second-place trophies and a third-place trophy at a recent competition in October 2017.

The Helena Police Explorers won first-place trophies for traffic stop and burglary response, second-place trophies for bomb threat response, arrest and search charges, traffic accident investigations and a third-place trophy in hostage negotiation.

“I really wanted to recognize the explorers who went to the state competition in October and our ladies and gentlemen in the Helena Police Explorers did very well,” Helena Police Chief Pete Folmar said. “We’re just really, really proud of them and we wanted to make sure we brought them to a council meeting to kind of sing their praises.”

The mission of the Helena Police Explorers is to instill, using law enforcement as a medium, basic values such as honesty, integrity, team work and pride, in the young men and women of our community.

Anyone interested in joining the Helena Police Explorers or would like more information on the Helena Police Explorers, contact 663-6499 or email Cofarril@helenapd.com.