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Gurnee Police Explorers shine at competition

The Gurnee Police Explorers faired extremely well in their first time competing at the Illinois Law Enforcement Explorer Conference, which took place in Romeoville Aug. 3-7. Sixteen members of the 8-month-old post, ranging in age from 14-19, walked away with 14 awards, more than any other police department in the state.

The explorers were split into teams of four and competed against 28 other departments in a barrage of events that kept them busy all week. They competed in 16 team events and several individual events in the competition, which included the state of Illinois firearms qualification course, courtroom testimony, accident investigation, drill and ceremony, crime scene investigation and field sobriety testing, just to name a few.

When they weren't competing in the competitions, the Explorers were attending professional development seminars.

The Gurnee Police Explorers relied heavily on contributions from the community to be able to participate in this event. Gillespie Ford provided $2,000 and vehicles to transport the 16 explorers to and from the state conference. Several other sponsors provided monetary or equipment donations, including Gurnee Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep, Muller Honda of Gurnee, Rock Chevrolet, Timothy O'Toole's, Domino Amjet, Albarran Law Firm, Marks & Associates and Shirt Stay Plus.

The explorers took home the following team trophies:

• First place, drill and ceremony

• First place, domestic disturbances

• Second place, traffic stops

• Second place, courtroom testimony

• Second place, crime scene response

• Second place, building search

• Second place, accident investigation

• Second place, field sobriety

• Fourth place, felony suspect arrest

In addition, the Explorers took home the following individual competition trophies:

• First place, FATS (fire arms simulator), Explorer Erik Kupraitis

• Second place, FATS, Chief Austin Demski

• Second place, emergency vehicle operation course, Chief Austin Demski

• Third place, live fire, Explorer Erik Kupraitis

• Third place, adviser live fire, Officer Dan Ruth

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