#Fairfield CT–The Fairfield Police Explorers attended the 2017 Cadet Police Academy held at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, July 23-29. A total of 350 cadets and 90 police officers and civilian
staff from Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts attended the week-long academy. The Cadet Police Academy is a comprehensive and challenging experience in the field of Law Enforcement. The Academy has been designed to provide Cadets with a broad exposure to modern day police work. Each level is a one week program and takes the full week to complete.  All staff members are volunteers to the program and are either sworn Law Enforcement Officers or adult advisors for their respective programs attending the academy.

 
The Cadets were split into various programs based on their age and experience. Their days started at approximately 5:30 a.m. and ended at 10:30 p.m. The main focus of the program was teamwork. Cadets learned that even when they thought that a task/goal was beyond their skill or capabilities, if they tried harder, worked harder and just never gave up, they could achieve those seemingly unreachable.
It was a physically and mentally demanding week and fifteen of the graduates are members of the Fairfield Police Explorer program including Alex Bloch, Deaglan McDade, JosephBairaktaris, Mekhi Geter, Kelley Martinez, Michael Coudert, Andrew Lamousneary, Tahliik Wilson, Johnny Bairaktaris, Joseph Ricco, Brianna Milfort, Leticia Pires, Brandon Compasso, Marco Giacobe, and Torelle Adebewale. Deaglan McDade and Joseph Bairaktaris were both awarded their Program Director’s award for outstanding achievement. Brianna Milfort finished in third place in her programs Physical Agility competition and Leticia Pires came in first place at the Talent Show. The Fairfield Police Explorer program is ongoing. For more information, please contact Sergeant Gregory Gunter, Fairfield Police Explorer Post Advisor at ggunter@fairfieldct.org.