Acworth Police Explorers practice for Gatlinburg’s Winterfest competition this weekend
Team leader senior Tanisha Plarchie, leads the group in clearing the room, while Kennesaw State students Allison Owens and Vaughn Benard, and senior Zach Wagoner follows in sync.
On February 3rd, Acworth police explorers sharpened their skills through practicing various scenarios for their upcoming Winterfest competition this weekend, February 6 to 8th, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
In a officer down scenario, KSU student Vaughn Bernard pats down junior Austin Ingraham, who was the assailant in the situation. “I think our most powerful weapon is our confidence in what we learned, which will help us beat other teams in the biggest competition of the year,” said Bernard.
Winterfest, the largest scout assembly in the United States, incorporates various explorer posts such as firefighter explorer, EMT explorers, and police explorers. The Acworth police signed up to compete in the officer down, domestic dispute, burglary in progress, felony traffic stops, drug bust/drug identification, and hostage scenario competitions.
“We prepare by practicing harder scenarios helps us ready ourselves for the easier ones,” said senior Duncan Canady.
Explorers split into two groups to work on burglary in progress and officer down simulations. Although both groups worked the same situations, advisers made unique twists and obstacles to challenge each participant. For example, the upstairs group’s burglary in progress simulation had senior Zach Wagoner calling the owner of the business to make sure if two employees were supposed to be there after hours.
Wagoner said, “I feel like we have a great chance for burglary in progress competition because we hosted it for the last four years, so we have that advantage over our competitors.”
Advisers Sergeant Samson, Detective St. Onge, and teacher John Reagan reiterate the importance of explaining every action in the process aloud, such as yelling “the scene is safe” or “calling the ambulance.” Explaining each maneuver helps in the judges’ critique.
While the upstairs group worked on a different situations, downstairs group got debriefed by Detective St. Onge on their mistakes in the last scenario as well as instructions for the next one.
Reagan comments on the preparation: “I’m very impressed with the hard work that has been put in for this competition. I am predicting great results.”
Junior Austin Ingraham is being arrested in an officer down scenario. Kennesaw State student Allison Owens holds her weapon at the perpetrator, Ingraham, who was previously holding a bloody shovel.
This is Tarleshia Jean Pierre, a senior at North Cobb who loves writing articles and taking pictures for The Chant, eating Haitian food, watching Netflix,...
