Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

LGPD Explorer Sgt. Merissa Merkt calls in to dispatch while on patrol with Officer Joe Deprima.

Explorer makes local history

By Shari Kaplan

As a youngster, Los Gatan Merissa Merkt says she realized law enforcement held a special interest for her.

As a teenager, she volunteers for the Los Gatos Police Department as a member of Explorer Post #504, a program that runs in conjunction with the Boy Scouts of America Explorer Division. She currently holds the rank of Explorer Sergeant.

Down the line, as a young adult and college graduate, Merissa plans to serve her community as a police officer.

The 18-year-old Leigh High School senior is off to a good start, having become the first Explorer in the history of the Santa Clara County Council of Boy Scouts selected to attend the FBI National Leadership Academy. Merkt will study at the academy this summer in Washington, D.C.

The Leadership Academy is designed to build law enforcement leadership skills. While there, Merissa will attend training sessions provided by the U.S. Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Postal Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. At the end of her studies, which will run for more than a week, Merissa and her Explorer classmates will act as security for the 1997 National Boy Scout Jamboree, to be held in Virginia.

Merissa's most influential role model, she says, is her aunt, who used to work as a sex crimes detective for Florida's Clearwater Police Department. From her, Merissa learned about police duties, got to tour the police station and saw firsthand that not all police officers are men.

After attending De Anza College and then a university, where she plans to study liberal arts, criminology and forensic science, Merissa says she would like to stay in the Bay Area and join a police force here--ideally, the LGPD.

"I think the department is really good and the community is nice. Los Gatos gets the same crimes as elsewhere, but we just get less of them," she says.

"I really like helping people. There have been times in my life that I needed help so I want to be out there helping people as much as I can," she says of why she wants to be an officer. She also says she is very much a "people person."

Merissa joined the LGPD's Volunteers in Policing more than two years ago; in August 1995 she switched gears slightly and joined the department's Explorer Post, which was being taken over and reorganized by Officer Randy Bishop. Although the Explorer program works in conjunction with the Boy Scouts, girls as well as boys can belong and do not need to be Scouts.

As a new Explorer in 1995, Merissa joined other Santa Clara County Explorers in attending several days of Explorer Academy, in which law enforcement personnel and other instructors present topics, including patrol, working with juveniles, writing reports, record-keeping, officer safety, first aid, crime scene investigation, traffic control, fingerprinting and community relations.

Among her early Explorer duties was working in the LGPD's records department, but when school commitments grew, she spent less time at the station. An honor roll student, Merissa also is active in Leigh's French Club and swims competitively at the Santa Clara International Swim Club in Santa Clara's Central Park.

Currently, she does ride-alongs with officers on patrol, assisting them by writing up the minute-to-minute activity log and radioing in to dispatch. She says her favorite aspect is dealing with all the people she gets to meet when officers respond to calls. She also works various community events and performs other duties.

As an Explorer Sergeant, Merissa is responsible for overseeing the younger or less experienced Explorers. Above her are an Explorer Lieutenant and a Captain. Supervising them all is Officer Bishop, who foresees a bright future for Merissa.

"Her aspirations are to move up the chain here in Los Gatos, maybe to be a community service officer and ultimately become a sworn officer. She's so incredibly disciplined and determined that it's like a breath of fresh air," Bishop says. Over the years, he says, Merissa has changed from a somewhat quiet, reserved youth to a very responsible, outgoing and mature young woman.

"Her best characteristics are that she's motivated, has incredible honesty and integrity and is full of pride to be a member of this organization, even in the Explorer capacity," Bishop adds.

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