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Shelby Spratt

Professor Daniel Poole

SOC-1010-405 Sociology

13 April 2017

Sociology Imagination Paper

ANALYSIS/INTRO: I am an Explorer Sergeant for the Draper City Police Department.

I have been a part of the program since March 6, 2016 and I will age out May 6, 2017. Over

the past year I have learned so many things about law enforcement but about myself as well.

In this paper I am going to talk about

our history and the different

sociological roles and social norms

we have and the role we play in our

community.

History: Police Explorer

programs have been around for a

long while and many different

departments around the nation use

them. Draper City first introduced

their Explorer program on September 16, 2014. This program was created for many different

reasons. A few include education, involving youth in police operations, character

development and teamwork. The biggest thing is its used for youth that is interested in

possibly perusing a career in the law enforcement field. By joining the program youth is able

to see if this is something they really want to peruse in life and what it really entails.
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There is a specific criteria that each individual has to meet to join the program. The

first is that you have to be 14-20 in age. Once you turn 21, you are no longer able to

participate in the program because you are now able to attend the Police Academy. On May

6th I will age out of the program since I will be turning 21.

We strive to have well rounded members and we want them to succeed in the

program as well as academically. Each Explorer have to bring in their report card at the end

of every quarter and show us their grades. They must have a 2.0 GPA or better to be in the

program. Explorers are able to participate in ride-a-longs with different police officers. We

do have to attend a class and pass the test with 90% or better to participate as well as being

sixteen years or older. We also help with tours of the police department, help with public

events, serve the community and help the department with their needs. We have weekly

meetings that are held every Thursday at 4:30 PM and they run about two and a half hours.

During these meetings we learn different types of training that police officers learn and use

on a daily basis. Some things we learn are report writing, building clearing, traffic stops,

directing traffic, radio use, car searches, shooting and many other things.

HOW I GOT INTO EXPLORERS: I have been working for Draper City for almost two

years now and all of my coworkers know that I am working towards my Associates Degree

in Criminal Justice and plan on attending the police academy here in the next year or so.

One day I received a call from my fellow coworker asking if I would like to participate

in Sting Operations. Someone had bailed last minute and the detectives now had an open

spot that they needed to fill that night so she automatically thought of me. These operations

are when you go into restaurants, stores, etc. and try to purchase alcohol while being

underage. I gladly said yes and rushed over to the police department to help. I will say that
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I had so much fun this night and it was so exciting riding around in the undercover cars and

meeting the different detectives. I really enjoyed hearing their stories and why they joined

the police force. After the stings, I stayed and spoke with some detectives and the detective

sergeant for Draper City. I spoke to them about my career plan and how I am working

towards joining the police force, (Hopefully here at Draper City!) They told me all about the

Explorer program and how its a great

way to further my education and interest

in the law enforcement field. I honestly

pondered joining the program for months

and eventually I signed up. I am so glad I

finally decided to join because I have

learned so many things and it has made

me want to join the policing world even more.

EXPLORER NORMS: We have many social norms that are used in the Explorer

program and we have a few that play a big importance. The main one that I am most

concerned on is we need to act respectful and professional in and out of uniform because we

are a representation of the police department as well as Draper City. People watch what we

say and how we act so we need to act correctly. Another big thing is we always address a

person by their rank; chief, deputy chief, detective, sergeant or officer followed by their last

name. This is out of respect to the person that we are speaking to. We also make sure that

we are never using our cell phone unless it is an emergency. Its rude to be on your phone

while someone is teaching or speaking to you and we take this norm seriously.
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SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: Some of the Symbolic Interactionism that we have is

the specific uniforms that we wear depending on what we are doing that day. We have three

different types of uniforms we wear. Class A, Class B and Class C Uniforms. The Class A

uniform is worn to an important event and it is our formal and professional uniform. We

wear dress pants, our long-sleeved button up shirt, tie and tie bar. We wear this uniform

when doing flag ceremonies, working the police department awards ceremony and

participating in public events such as the Fallen Officer Memorial Ceremony. The Class B

uniform is what we wear when we want to be professional but more casual. We wear duty

pants and our short-sleeved button up shirt. This uniform is worn when we give tours of the

police department as well as when we go out on ride-a-longs. Our Class C uniform is used

when we are going out to get dirty and we want to be able to move easier. This uniform is

our duty pants and a navy blue or white T-shirt that says Explorer on the back. We typically

use this uniform when we go shooting, practice building clearing or any other hands on

training.

We always have our boots polished and we need to be presentable since we are a

representation of the police department. Both of our button up shirts have a badge that say

Draper City Explorer. We also have name plates that we wear on our shirt so people can

see who we are as well as

GENDER/AGE/RACE/ETHNICITY: In our Explorer program, we are always having

people resign from the program and we are always adding new faces. Currently we have five

females and five males. When I first joined the program, the number of females outnumbered

the male population. We are always changing and growing as a group. Its nice to see that
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both males and females are interested in the program and furthering themselves in the law

enforcement field. One thing I love about law enforcement is there is no gender bias. Both

males and females can do the job and they are both as important as the other is. In Utah, I

have noticed that majority police officers are males but over the past few years, the number

of female officers has drastically grown.

The majority race in our Explorer program would be Caucasian. We have a few

members who are Hispanic and we have one Polynesian member. However, I feel like we

have a good mix of different cultures in our group. This is helpful because we are able to talk

about different subjects and ideas that deal

with law enforcement and profiling and no

one gets upset or offended.

We also have a bunch of Explorers

from all different age groups. As I talked

about before you have to be 14-20 to join

the group. Currently the youngest person

in the group is sixteen and I am the oldest

at twenty. The majority of our population

are youth in high school that are seniors

and graduating this year. We have a few

members that are in college and have full

time jobs as well, me being one of them.

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I love being an Explorer because you are able to learn about each individual and his

or her background in life. When a new Explorer joins we all introduce ourselves, give a little

history lesson and tell the group why we joined the program. We are a group and it takes all

of us to make a whole but its the individuality that makes such a great group as unique as

we are. Each Explorer plays a different role in the program and we would not be what we are

if it wasnt for their individuality.

CONCLUSION: I would say that my Explorer group is very well rounded in all aspects

and we all work together very well. One of my favorite things is we always have fun while

learning and training. I can honestly say that I love this group as well as the people in it. I am

so thankful for this whole experience and everything I am going to be taking away from it.

We all have a common goal to better ourselves as individuals as well as we work on

growing as an Explorer group. We are all able to communicate effectively and work as a

group to get tasks done. This is a very important skill that is used in our program and in law

enforcement. We are one big family that is fighting for the same end goal and protecting our

society. We are the line between the public and criminals; we are The Thin Blue Line.
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Draper City Explorer Information: Accessed 4/13/17

https://post2731.jimdo.com/

Thin Blue Line Badge Image: Accessed 4/13/17

https://www.google.com/search?q=thin+blue+line&hl=en&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&

sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiQo_fskaLTAhVL8IMKHVkBDHgQ_AUIBigB&biw=1336&bih=874#imgr

c=gln3pmSPVV5FLM: