CAMARILLO : Youths Report for Classes in Police Work

About 30 Ventura County young people will spend the next three weeks finding out whether law enforcement is the career for them as they learn how to prevent crime, work on gang problems and write reports.

The youths, who reported Monday on the first day of the 1993 Ventura County Regional Law Enforcement Explorer Academy in Camarillo, will also learn whether they are cut out for the physical demands of police work, officials said.

“It’s a condensed version of a real police academy,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Lee Morris. “For a lot of them, it’s a real eye-opening experience.”

The academy will also teach the group of boys and girls and young men and women, aged 14- to 20, about the history of law enforcement and how it works today, officials said.

“I think the majority of them find out that this is something they want; otherwise they don’t last very long,” said Simi Valley Police Officer Diane Sliester, who is helping to supervise this year’s academy.

Those who pass the midterm and final examinations graduate from the program July 30 at Camarillo City Hall, Sliester said. Successful participants then become Law Enforcement Explorers affiliated with various police departments, she said.

Explorers perform community service work through their sponsoring departments and sometimes help with traffic control at large events, Sliester said. They occasionally are allowed to ride along with patrol officers.

Classes teach the students about radio procedures, report writing, crime prevention, traffic control and accident investigation, gang intervention and more, officials said.

At the end of the course, the students engage in role-playing with officers to test their responses in dangerous situations, officials said.