Central Texas Explorers celebrate recent graduates

On Saturday, July 7, the Central Texas Explorer Academy, which was hosted by the Austin Police Department, graduated 42 explorers. The explorer program shows youth ages 14-21 the many facets of a career in law enforcement. Eight agencies participated in the program: Austin, Hutto, Leander and Cedar Park police departments; the sheriff’s offices from Travis, Hays and Williamson counties; and Travis County Constables Pct. 2. Assistant Chief McIlvain with APD and Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez attended the graduation at the Omni Southpark Hotel, along with other executive staff. The four-week program consisted of 128 hours of law enforcement training, which included lessons on the penal code, nutrition and physical fitness, handcuffing, searching and frisking, investigations, rappelling and more.