WHAT IS EX-CON?

"Ex-Con" stands for Explorer Conference, as in Law Enforcement Explorer Conference. Ex-Con was founded by three police officers employed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. ALL three officers are former Explorers with more than 30 years of combined experience as law enforcement exploring advisors.

Ex-Con was established in order to provide the best law enforcement Explorer competition in the United States. The goal, was to improve upon various other types of Explorer competitions that LVMPD Explorers and advisors had participated in. Ex-Con offers a significantly low cost, well organized conference.

The first concern, when Ex-Con was created, was to create a program where the practical scenarios not only change every conference, but also mirror "real-life" police work. The changing of the scenarios is important to truly test each teams preparedness and knowledge, as well as to provide for more excitement and a greater learning ability each year. The attempt to better mirror "real-life" police work, was done to better show the challenge, danger and complexities of modern law enforcement. Explorers may not just be tasked with conducting a" vehicle stop", as with some other competitions, but maybe a vehicle stop with multiple occupants, higher danger factors and a higher level of "unknown" risk. The purpose, is to get the Explorers to use their problem solving, teamwork and officer safety skills more effectively. The Explorers need to know that in "real-life", everything is not in black and white, and everything does not go the way you plan. As police officers you will have to adapt and overcome on a daily basis.

The new age of law enforcement has also brought new challenges to police officers, such as terrorist acts, "active shooter" scenarios and an array of complex weaponry used by and against officers everyday. Ex-Con accepts these new and ever changing problems and embraces them with the hope that the Explorers will learn more about how to be a truly safe and effective police officer in the 21st century. Complex tactical scenarios that test each Explorers mental and physical strengths will always be found at Ex-Con.

The next major concern, and probably the most valid, was money. As former Explorers and current Advisors, it was understood that money is very difficult to come by as an Explorer post. Ex-Con was created with the idea of keeping it as low cost as possible and offering more in return for each dollar. Huge, detailed trophies, better food, better housing and many free items, (just to name a few), are ways that Ex-Con has tried to make it the best and most convenient competition yet.

Ex-Con is lucky enough to be hosted in the beautiful Northwest Las Vegas Valley in Las Vegas, Nevada. With all of the recreational opportunities and local amenities, every participant will be able to enjoy their stay and occupy their time during and after the conference. Since the conference,( including award ceremonies), is only one day, each post will have more then enough time to enjoy Las Vegas, without being forced to fight the "Strip" and Las Vegas traffic. The competition is held in a very affluent area of Northwest Las Vegas. All participants can enjoy all that Las Vegas has to offer without ever having to leave the Northwest part of the valley. It is completely self contained. If the participants wish to view the rest of the valley and/or recreational sites, multiple freeway systems are just a couple minutes away, as is the host hotel. The host hotel also possesses it’s own bowling alley and movie theater, so you may not want to even leave the hotel after competing.

Ex-Con’s inaugural competition was held June 7th, 2003. It was a great success and yet is still being modified in order to make it better each year to come. Ex-Con is only possible with the support of the Las Vegas community as well as the input and knowledge of those Explorers and advisors who attend. Over 35 police officers from different areas of this department, as well as over 100 LVMPD Explorers donate their time and hard work to run Ex-Con and hopefully make it the best conference yet. Ex-Con staff would like to thank all of those posts who participated in Ex-Con 2007 as well as those within the community who assisted in Ex-Con’s success. The 2007 link offers pictures, a guest list and scoring reference the event. The 2008 link will offer the latest information relevant to Ex-Con 2008, including registration and payment methods, and is updated as soon as information is available. If you have any questions reference Ex-Con or any information located within this site you can contact Ex-Con staff by clicking the Contact link or by using the below information.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

To provide the most challenging, exciting, low cost, real-life law enforcement Explorer competition in the country, thus preparing America’s young men and women for a safe, successful and rewarding career in law enforcement.