Newtown Police Explorers, who are members of Cadet Post #823, received medals on May 4 for their performance in the Connecticut Police Stations Day sponsored by the Northeast Regional Law Enforcement Education Association (NERLEEA), according to a statement from Newtown police.

The competitive event was held at the Police Officer Standards and Training Council’s (POST) training academy in Meriden.

More than 200 police explorer cadets, ranging in age from 13 to 21, from Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire participated in the police-based events.

The Stations Day competitions are based on the knowledge that cadets gain through their training.

Subjects of the competitions included: firearms training, driving skills, searches of buildings, DUI enforcement, leadership, suspicious persons, tactical situations, high-risk and low-risk motor vehicle stops, crisis intervention, assaults, search-and-control situations, high-stress scenarios, and domestic violence.

Each Newtown cadet was allowed to participate in up to three events, with the subject categories randomly picked just before the competition began. As cadets, the youths have received training in all of the listed competitive areas, police said.

Police said that Newtown Explorer Cadets Emily Clark and Nick Marcinek placed second overall in the crisis intervention competition. That competition involved their simulated response to a citizen who was in a crisis situation.

Also, Ms Clark and Allison Silkowski placed third overall in the high-stress event category. In that simulation, participants are placed in a situation intended to cause high anxiety and then must solve many tasks under extreme conditions.