Brooke Kobact 11 is a junior at Lewis-Palmer High School. She is a part of a Police Explorer Program in Castle Rock, Colorado. She shares her experiences and lessons of being a young explorer. And shares her support of our Police Men and Women in our Country. 

“The Police Explorer Program is a program that takes young students and teaches them how to become responsible police officers in the future. We wear uniforms, go on ride-alongs, and learn all the aspects of being a police officer,” Kobact said. 

Out of the many things Kobact loves about the program, she loves having a special bond with the other explorers. She shares how the bond of the other explorers is like a family bond. 

“Our program isn’t very big, we have 16 kids. Everyone who is a part of our program is like family,” Kobact said. “We are all very close with one another. And all of our advisors and other explorers are really close too.”

Being a Police Explorer you learn many instructions that will help you as a future officer. Social interaction and communication is very important to learn as being a Police Explorer. 

“One thing I have learned from this program is social communication. We learn to do pedestrian contact, which can be stressful. Yet, it has taught me about leadership and communication skills,” Kobact said. 

The particular reason why Kobact joined the Police Explorer program is because she shares a passion in law enforcement. She sees herself becoming a police officer in the future. The program means a lot to her because she learns valuable skills and information. 

“I am a part of this program because I want a career in law enforcement. This program also helps teach young students wrong to right in the law enforcement,” Kobact said. “This program means a lot to me because I get to learn so much. And our program is like family. It also means a lot to me because we learn valuable information that will make us better law enforcement police officers in the future.” 

Being a Police Explorer teaches young kids many aspects of becoming a police officer. One of those things is physical activities. Being able to do physical training helps prepare you for what could happen.

“We do a lot of physical activities in the program. For example, we run, do obstacle courses, and lots of push-ups. We just do a lot of physical training to get ready because you never know what is going to happen when you are on a ride along, and you never know who wants to hurt you. So you just have to be prepared,” Kobact said. 

Taking a role as a Police Explorer is very important and fun for Kobact. One of her favorite things to do is professionally working with handguns. And learning when to shoot and when not to shoot while being under pressure. She also does more than police activities while being a part of this program. 

“My favorite part of the program is doing simulations of situations. For example, we do something called a “Shoot don’t Shoot”. It definitely is very helpful because it’s showing you how to work under pressure. We also do different things outside of police stuff such as a “Project to Unify” basketball games. Where we played with special needs kids in Castle Rock, which was fun!,” Kobact said. 

In 2021, there are many controversial opinions about our Police Men and Women. During our current time we are living in, unfortunately it is more difficult for police officers to patrol our community without being called out. While being a Police Explorer Kobact shares her experience of receiving hate. 

“I definitely would say being a police explorer is hard sometimes. There are times when we are walking around and we get hate. Like for example there was a time that we were working the star lighting in Palmer Lake and people were screaming at us and telling us awful things,” Kobact said. 

Kobact shares her support for our Police Officers in our country and the BLM Movement. She has been told many times that she can not support both. Her goal as a future officer is to protect everyone and show others that not all cops are bad. 

“There are many people telling me that I can’t support the BLM Movement and support our Police Men and Women. But I do think you can support both. The whole reason why I want to become a cop is to show people that not all cops are bad and that you can stand up for everyone and still protect people. I do agree with the phrase Blue Lives Matter and just in the fact that not every cop is bad and that choosing to go into this is putting your life at risk to protect others, and that’s the whole reason why I want to do this,” Kobact said.