While some teens want to avoid the inside of a police car, that's exactly where Abby Blackwell and Steve Reed want to be. The high school students, who say they'd like to be police officers someday, have gotten a head start on the career. Blackwell, Reed and 10 other Hamilton County teens have spent the past year gaining hands-on experience with the Noblesville Police Department Explorers. The Explorers program, sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America, gives young men and women the chance to learn about career fields they'd like to pursue. But this isn't just any after-school club.
Explorers meet twice a month, and the commitment goes further than that.
Each Saturday in February the group met for eight hours to go through a police explorers academy. Noblesville Police officer Edie Keesee, one of the group's sponsors, said she wanted the academy to be as authentic as possible. Explorers also have an opportunity to ride along with officers on two shifts per month, working the whole shift just like a real cop. Reed said his first ride along was spent pulling cars out of ditches during a snow storm. It's always exciting the whole time.