In 2025, the Mathews County Sheriff’s Office was awarded funding under Governor Youngkin’s grant initiative to launch their first-ever Youth Explorers’ Program for teenagers between the ages of 13-18 years of age. Once the sheriff’s office was approved for funding, Sheriff April Edwards began creating an Explorers’ program that would facilitate interest in the law enforcement profession, develop rapport with our youth, and educate the youth on important topics such as the Constitution, ethics and why it’s important to live your life with integrity always at the forefront. Most importantly, we taught these components in a way that made it interesting for them which positively impacted the retention of the material taught. The Explorers’ application process was rigorous and included a lengthy application, character references as well as an essay component that had to be completed before fifteen candidates were selected to participate in the program.
During the week of June 22nd-26th, 2026, Sheriff Edwards and staff hosted the Explorers at the sheriff’s office for an action-packed week. On the first day, the Explorers, outfitted in their official uniforms, were sworn in by the Mathews County Circuit Court Clerk Elizabeth Brown, where they received their official Explorer badges. The Explorers had a host of lecture topics which included radio communications, Constitutional law, Virginia Code and how to look up code, drafting a criminal complaint, probable cause and an ethics and an integrity component.
The week also included practical exercises to include firearm safety, traffic stops, handcuffing, crime scene processing, felony stops, vehicle searches and defensive tactics where the Explorers were partnered up in twos and they had to fight two Red-men and take them into custody. The Explorers had the opportunity to meet with General District Court Judge Stephanie Revere and then later they observed traffic court. At the end of the week, the Explorers were dispatched to a mock crime-scene of a shooting in progress in the municipal parking lot. This exercise lasted an entire day and a half and the Explorers had to secure the scene, process the scene of any and all evidence, interview witnesses, submit evidence to the lab, present all evidence to the Commonwealth Attorney, draft a criminal complaint, they met with the magistrate to obtain warrants, arrested their suspect, conducted an interrogation while reading the suspect his Miranda warnings, and then took the suspect before the magistrate for a bond hearing.
We are pleased to say the Mathews County Explorers performed a top-notch criminal investigation that resulted in Henry “the Heartless” McCarty being charged with attempted murder, maiming, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and shooting in a public place. McCarty was ordered to be held without bond. The Explorers even thought of deploying a K9 to do evidence recovery in which the firearm used in the “offense” was recovered.
The Explorers’ program was an absolute success, and we have had an influx of youth reach out wanting to be a part of it. When the current Explorers were asked to rate the program, it was unanimous that they would all be returning back for the next session. The program will continue to host monthly presentations for the Explorers and there are a host of activities planned for them in the months to come.
This program would have been impossible for the Mathews County Sheriff’s Office to start without the funding assistance offered by Governor Youngkin’s Ceasefire initiative.
