University Daily Kansan / Friday, December 7, 1990
7B
Customs kids
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — International travelers arriving at Kennedy Airport may think the U.S. Customs inspectors checking their luggage look baby-faced — and they're right. Some are as young as 14.
The youths are part of the Boy Scouts of America's Explorer program, but this group is not just interested in earning merit badges—they're looking for drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods.
These Explorers are involved in nearly every aspect of Customs activities, from searching foreign animals to X-raying cartons of frozen shrimp.
Before going out in the field, they attend classes in which they learn essentials like search, arrest and seizure techniques. They also perform surveillance with agents in involvement with laundering and child paraphernomy.
Sounds exciting, right? Most days it is, the group insists. They get to meet celebrities like Steve Martin and Mel Brooks, but they also discover there's a downside to the inspections as well.
Such as rummaging through someone's sweaty, dirty underwear. Or sniffing the contents of a suspicious vial only to learn a dozen sneezes too late that it's chili powder. Or being pelted with overripe, illegal fruit.
■ ean, I came in here really thinking that every day was going to be like 'Miami Vice.' "I said Becerre, 20, of Queens." Trust me, it's not.
The program, which began in 1984, gives hands-on experience and helps participants decide whether they want a career in law enforcement, said Customs Officer Patricia Leyden, post supervisor.
"It also gives them a different view of what life is like," she said. "Some of them come from disadvantaged homes or neighborhoods where kids don't grow up with the greatest dreams in the world. This program hopefully teaches them they can do something positive with their lives."
***
The latter is what attracted Pearce. He joined the group at age 15 and is in college pursuing a degree in criminal justice.
"I grew up in a rapidly changing community," Pearce said. "The crime rate was going up. Drugs were everywhere. I could have stayed out on the streets with my friends, but I knew where they were headed."
but then they were
"I didn't want to be 21 with a GED
and have a motorcycle be the most
important thing in my life."
Nationwide, about 1.1 million youths are involved in Explorer programs that run the gamut from movie producing to medicine, commercial art to aerospace engineering.
These baby-faced scouts search for the bad guys
Brian Archimbaud, director of Exploring for the Bay Scout Council in New York, said the focus shifted from camping and nature programs around 1970 after a survey showed senior Scouts wanted career-oriented programs.
"They also, not surprisingly, wanted a program that had girls in it," Archimbaud said.
The 11 males and three females at the Kennedy post are from 14 to 20 years old. They blend in with their official U.S. Customs counterparts, helping enforce the laws of 40 federal agencies.
Only their youthful faces and trendy haircairs give them away. Dressed in the Customs uniform of starched white shirts and blue trousers, they often traveler questions as they look through luggage for contraband.
***
Charles Sierra — a 19-year-old who refused to smile for a photographer because he was "on duty" — found a carton of guns in a shipment of luggage while working cargo inspection.
David Chianes — a 16-year-old nicknamed Bart because of his Simpson-like hairdo — uncovered 40 ounces of opium inside some hollowed tree branches while working the mailroom detail.
"They were just regular branches, but they smelled funny." he said
And then there was "the great mango caper," said Robert Nici.
Nici, tie slightly askew, busily chomping gum, recalls how he discovered an illegal cache of mangoes inside a Caribbean woman's suitcase. The lady then lped him with
the fruit
"You think you've got the big load here, the one that's going to make Medellin (cartel) crumble, and it turns out to be illegal fruit."
Though he made light of his big burk, Leyden gently reminded him that he might have stopped another Mediterranean fruit fly infestation.
Of all the jobs, the Explorers seem to like doing plane searches best.
"It's the little kids in them," Leyden said. "They get to go and in search the electrical systems, under floors, looking for whatever."
Most volunteer between 10 and 30 hours a month at the airport. They also give anti-drug lectures at high schools and community fairs.
10 become an Explorer, no previous Scouting experience is necessary. Members must be between 14 and 20, and if, in high school, maintain C a average. The mix, nationalise, is a recent male and 40 percent female
Though the group is a branch of the Boy Scouts, the program is run through the participating agency or business.
Archimabu said about 60 percent of the Explorers went into some aspect of their career posts. Two former members of the JFK post now are working as full-time Customs inspectors.
"The rest go off in a totally different direction," Archimbaud said. "That's one of the program's main advantages. They get to experience different careers before they're forced to make a serious commitment."
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