A group of budding law enforcement officers in Prince George’s County got some attention from the White House last week at their banquet.
They didn’t know it, but an officer in the county department had nominated their Post 1696 of the Explorers, a program for youth interested in law enforcement, for a Presidential Volunteer Service award. When the signed letter from President Obama and gold pin were presented to them, they were surprised.
And so was the team’s leader, Prince George’s County police Sgt. Yakeisha Hines.
“Oh, she was proud,” said Karena Jackson of the Explorers. “Very proud.”
At Jackson’s urging, fellow Explorer Lester Thomas proudly pulled out the certificate that marked the group winners of the “Gold” award for spending more than 1,000 hours doing community service. Throughout the year, they work crowd control, park cars and speak at events throughout the county.
“It felt good, I mean, to know that we’re being recognized for all the hard work we do in the community,” Lester said. “It’s always good to know someone’s watching.”
At 18 years old, Lester still addresses adults as sir and ma’am. Though many people — especially his peers — have a negative perception of law enforcement officers, he said community service helps to show that they’re not all big and bad.
“I think it’s important just to get out there and not to always just be known for, you know, being rough and taking people down,” Jackson said. “It’s nice just to get your face out there and help others.”
Post 1696 also happens to be the best drill team in the nation. They’ve earned first place at nationals for the past two years and plan on bringing home a trophy again in July, though they don’t quite have enough room in their bookshelf to put it.
“We try to stay a little humble but, I can’t think of the word, they just really are the best,” Hines said.
