Dylan Lozada, center, in his neatly pressed uniform adorned with ribbons earned for his accomplishments, a police whistle on his pocket, is a model Providence Police Explorer. He is focused on executing precisely the scenario set out for him and his teammates: to respond to a call of a burglary in progress.

Dylan, 15, says he has always been attracted to what he calls “Army life” — the precision, the discipline, the orderliness. And he shows that in his appearance — from his shaved head to his manner of answering questions and commands with crisp “yes, sirs” or “no, ma’ams.” When his mother found out about the program, she enrolled her son, who is a student at the Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy, as a way for him to channel his interest. This is his second year in the program.

The current training is aimed at getting Dylan and the other Explorers ready for a National Law Enforcement Explorers competition this July in Colorado. They are getting a critique from Patrolman Steve Cileli, right, a volunteer leader of the Providence Police Explorers. He and the other patrolmen who give their time to the program point out that Dylan and the other Explorers, including Milton Morales, second from left, must point their weapons straight ahead rather than down at their feet. (The weapons the boys hold are actually red molded plastic replicas of handguns.) And Cileli tells them that when they enter a room to search it, they must back each other up rather than move around aimlessly alone.

With a long tradition through the Boy Scouts of America as a way to teach about different careers, Explorer programs are sponsored by many Rhode Island police departments. Boys and girls get a taste of what it is like to be a police officer through drills, discipline and standard procedures. They even get to go on coveted ride-alongs when they have reached a certain level of training. Explorers have gone undercover recently in the crackdown on local liquor stores suspected of selling alcohol to minors. Cileli says these youths will testify about what they found before the Providence Board of Licenses, just as a police officer would.

Earlier that evening, Cileli spoke to a younger group about why one of their Explorers was missing.

He expects them to be disciplined in all areas of their lives and to stay out of trouble, he says. But the missing boy was caught shoplifting at the mall the week before. He thought his participation in the Explorers would get him off the hook. It didn’t. That boy was, in Cileli’s words, “a knucklehead” because he ruined a great opportunity for himself.

Cileli, who has been a Marine, a corrections officer and, for the past 12 years, a Providence police officer, was a Police Explorer when he was in high school. His work as an adviser in the program is his way of giving back. Along the way, he says, you end up being more than a volunteer — often filling the role of a mentor.

Dylan pays close attention to every word that comes out of Cileli’s mouth. “I like the program because it helps me to prepare for what might come up in the future,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot of discipline and respect toward police officers.”