The Azle High School Criminal Justice Club competed at the Texas Public Safety Association State Conference in Galveston March 30-April 2. TPSA is a nonprofit career technical student organization that provides criminal justice high school students with leadership opportunities, real-world experiences, and competitions in law, public safety, corrections and security.
This year, six AHS students qualified for state, with two of them earning qualifications in multiple events. Students competed in a variety of role-playing challenges, including fire agility, a skills-based event in which participants suited up in full fire gear and completed an obstacle course; fire search and rescue, where students suited up in fire gear and navigated a zero-visibility area to rescue a simulated victim; suspect apprehension, where students wore a police uniform and chased a suspect through an obstacle course; and building search, a four-person team event that challenged students to secure a building with an open door.
Through the Criminal Justice career cluster, if students complete all four years in the program, they are eligible to earn an industry-based certification — a Level 2 security certification. After they pass the industry-based certification exam, they graduate from high school with a certificate and have access to a wide range of job opportunities such as a security guard, mall police officer and locksmith.
