ORANGE PARK – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office Challenge Explorer Youth Program, run by deputy Matthew Brown, allows local youth to develop basic law enforcement skills, discipline, time management and planning, allowing them to compete in statewide competitions to test their skills.

Brown has been in charge of the program for about two years, but it has been a part of the CCSO for decades.

“I did some research trying to find how long the program has been established here at the sheriff’s office,” said Brown. “I could only go back as far as somewhere in the ‘80s.”

The program looks for a particular type of youth to be a participant.

“The easiest way to describe it,” said Brown, “[is] it’s kind of like it’s the ROTC [Reserve Officer’s Training Corps]; similar program, but the law enforcement version of that. There’s certain requirements. Age 14, and age 21 is the cutoff.”

Interested young people must apply, have no criminal background, and pass a background check, like any other CCSO applicant. There is also an academic component to the application process. Candidates must have a 2.0 grade-point-average or better. To be placed in any leadership position, they must have a 3.0 average.

Before the inception of school resource officers and school safety officers, CCSO officers were in Clay County schools with more direct access to students. That helped them to identify candidates and generate interest in the Explorer Program.

“Kids would come up and say ‘Hey I want to go into law enforcement,’ or they heard about the explorer program, so we were able to give them that information,” said CCSO spokesman Andrew Ford. “And so, typically what happened, now that we have a school police department in the schools, that kind of took us out of the schools where we could share that information to those kids. So now you have to find another way to get that message out to kids in schools and in the community that we do have an explorer program, and we want kids to come and sign up.”

According to Ford, many children in the schools show interest in a future law enforcement career but are unaware of the program.

Being a member of the program teaches many law enforcement skills and helps prepare the participant for a successful future.

“We have our meetings on Monday nights,” Brown said. “They attend the meetings, and they learn law enforcement things. They learn how to do traffic stops. They learn how to use a radio; how to communicate. Rank structure, how to be organized, take notes, things like that. They learn different parts on how to become a law enforcement officer, and they learn what a law enforcement officer does.”

It’s not just about policing for the children, though, stressed Brown. There is also the critical aspect of community engagement. Members volunteer in the community, help with special events, or assist the disabled in doing good things in their community.

“They give back to the community,” Brown said. “And it goes towards their community service hours.”

Ford referenced the program’s importance to help create well-rounded young people, which colleges are looking for as much as they look for academic achievement.

One former member is currently at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, completing his U.S. Army Advanced Individual Training in his occupational specialty before returning home to serve in the Army Reserve. He has already reached out to Brown to express interest in attending training to become an officer in the CCSO.

Both Ford and Brown feel that the Explorer program has great value to the community.

“Number one, I think you have to have a person who is overseeing it show the same type of commitment and dedication that he shows to his job as he shows to the youth,” said Ford. “Matt Brown has been extraordinary in doing that. A SWAT operator, so he knows tactics. But also, with that comes discipline. Matt couldn’t be successful today if he didn’t have that type of discipline and work ethic. So, anyone that joins that program, you know they’ll be held accountable in the values that the explorer program has.”

In a time when many young people want to affect change in their daily lives and communities, the Explorer program helps members to gain the necessary leadership and organizational skills to thrive in the future.