Police Explorers Return from Conference with 3rd Place Trophy Trip Provided Education, Competition for Local Youth Group

The Winthrop Police Explorers returned from their bi-annual to the National Police Explorers Conference in Colorado last weekend, and brought with them the trophy as the third best Explorers unit in the country, after competing against 3,000 explorers from across the country, including big city troops from cities like Orlando and Tampa Bay FL, Fort Worth and El Paso TX, Riverside, CA,  Minneapolis, MN, New York City and Baltimore, MD.

“Our kids excelled,” said Winthrop Police Lieutenant Frank Scarpa, the senior leader of the troop. “It was absolutely our best trip to the national conference in our 17 years of existence. Our kids fully participated in nine team events and several individual competitions and they all were in the top ten percent of the explorers who were competing.”

Lt. Scarpa also noted that the trip would not have been as successful without the generosity and support of the Winthrop community as a whole.

“We were able to meet our fundraising goals and send all of the kids on the trip that were able to go and we really wouldn’t have been able to do that without the community support,” he noted.

According to Scarpa, the Winthrop Troop was split into three teams that competed in the team events, with the team led by Samantha Peterson and including Peter Carbone and Richard and Michael Ferrino taking the third place trophy overall.

“That team actually finished in first place, but lost a tie-breaker and finished third overall,” said Scarpa. “In my book they were every bit as good as the other teams they competed against.”

The other two Winthrop teams of Jillian Flowers, Vanessa Peterson and Daniel Wall and Tom Lambert David Coscia and Joseph Ferrino also placed in the top 10 percent of teams competing.

“All of these kids really did themselves, this town, their families and the Winthrop Police Department proud,” added Scarpa. “Coming home we all agreed that this was our best conference ever, partly because of the performances, but also because of the level of participation, the historical and cultural education they received and the seminars they were able to attend.”

Accompanying the Explorers was a team of chaperones that included Scarpa, WPD Sergeant Steve Rogers, BPD Officer Andrew Minichello, federal officer Peter Granitsis,, WPD Officer Robert Ferullo and female chaperone and medical technician April Lavino of Action Ambulance.

Also assisting the troop in their preparation for the conference were training officers Patrick Curran and WPD Officer Shawn McCarthy.