For the third consecutive year, the Austin Police Explorers have earned top honors at the Duluth Law Enforcement Explorer Conference, including an individual first-place award last weekend.

Police explorer Jay Stiles competed in the individual police examination among 110 participants and bested them all. As a group, explorers earned third place overall in the “arrest and search” category and fourth place in the “traffic stops” competition.

This year, there were more than 300 explorers and more than 20 agencies competing at the Duluth conference. Explorer advisers and Austin Police officers Mike Tischer and Ross Johnson had another coach and mentor for the Explorers at the competition, newly sworn Lyle Police Chief TJ Lynch.

The police explorers are a group of 14- to 20-year-olds who are interested in law enforcement careers. Anyone interested in joining can email APDPoliceExplorers@gmail.com.