Members of the Maple Valley Police Department’s Explorer Post competed in the two-day Apple Cup Challenge May 22-23 in Yakima and took home hardware from the event.
The explorers competed against 114 other explorers on 60 teams representing posts from across the state. The six members of the Maple Valley Post were paired up for the competition in which they participated in a variety of scenarios that deputies and police officers would encounter on the job.
This kind of competition is what the members of the local post have been training for since they signed up. They were graded on different criteria in each scenario.
On Saturday the teams dealt with scenarios involving a high risk traffic stop, a non-injury car crash, a burglary in progress at a strip mall and finally a traffic stop for a school zone speeding violation.
On Sunday some of the teams investigated an assault call, processed a homicide scene, responded to an active shooter and went through the physical training courses.
During the physical training course the Explorers ran 220 yards with the clock running, complete 30 sit ups in under a minute, run a 50 yard dash with a partner in under 15 seconds, complete 25 pushups in a minute and finally a member from each team had to drag their partner’s lifeless body about 30 feet to keep them alive.
Explorers Gehrke, Johnson, White and Pierce came in third place in the “High Risk Stop,” second place in “Rapid Response” and first place in the “Burglary in Progress” events.
These three events were all two team combined events. Explorer Captains Gehrke and Johnson were awarded a special Apple trophy for the Best Overall Team. They were also in the top 2 percent for the PT event and barely missed placing in the top three teams.
Maple Valley police and the King County Sheriff’s Office is always looking for young adults ages 14-20 who are interested in law enforcement as a career or just giving back to their community. Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month starting at 6 p.m. at the Gaffney House, located inside Lake Wilderness Park, 22601 S.E. 248th St., in Maple Valley.
The Explorer program is a non-profit group and is always in need of financial donations. The MVPD/KCSO post is currently looking for a newer 12-15 passenger van in good shape to be donated to the post.
For more information call the Maple Valley Police Department at 425-413-5158.
