17 Cranston Residents Complete Police Explorers Program

CRANSTON, RI — Nearly one-quarter of the graduates of the 2019 Rhode Island State Police Academy came from Cranston. The week-long program allows young people to experience what it's like to become a law enforcement official through a mock police program that includes physical training, scenarios and more.

17 graduates came from Cranston. On June 29, all 80 graduates gathered at Camp Varnum, the National Guard's Narragansett facility, for graduation, The Johnston Sunrise reported.

The Cranston Police department praised the city's explorers on Monday.

"We would like to offer a huge congratulations to our Explorers who recently completed the Rhode Island State Explorer Academy," the department wrote on Facebook. "These motivated Cranston students performed admirably over the course of a very long and tedious week of realistic law enforcement training."

Over the course of the week, explorers trained the same way real police recruits do, completing physical training and classroom work along with learning about community policing and taking part in scenario-based training.

Two Cranston students were given awards for going above and beyond during their time at the academy. Genesis Aldana was given the Explorer Academy Leadership Award and Sofia Calderon earned the Emergency Vehicle Ops Award.