Reserve Officers

[mapd143]

Hello All.

I am a LE student At Fox Valley Tech in Appleton WI. I am wondering if you can help me out with a paper I am researching. It is on Reserve/Auxiliary Officers. If you would answer the following questions I'd appreciate it.

1. Do you have any reserve officers on your department?
2. Why or why not?
3. What are your OPINIONS on Reserve officers?

Any experiences both good or bad would be ok as well.

Thanks in advance

Joel Campbell

[gotthblues]

Hello All.

I am a LE student At Fox Valley Tech in Appleton WI. I am wondering if you can help me out with a paper I am researching. It is on Reserve/Auxiliary Officers. If you would answer the following questions I'd appreciate it.

1. Do you have any reserve officers on your department?
2. Why or why not?
3. What are your OPINIONS on Reserve officers?

Any experiences both good or bad would be ok as well.

Thanks in advance

Joel Campbell

FORMER OFFICER
1 yes
2 for support,,to work parades, security where officers can not be spared, to ride with officers, when shift is unusually short handed, two man unit better than one man unit
3 some good, some bad- resrv who want to work and are squared away, good
resrv who only want to carry a badge, never show up for assignments or to ride with officers,,,,BAAAAD

[pawncop]

Have been a reserve officer for 26+ years. Started on patrol with local sheriff's office, transfered to local PD, now assigned to CID, work the pawn shop detail. We have about 5 reserve officers now, most are officers who have resigned to get higher paying jobs, and want to keep their foot in the door.

Like most things it depends on the individual, whether they understand their role, how committed they are to training and doing the job to the best of their ability.

Hope this helps.

[KenW.]

I was commander of our reserve unit until a former sheriff disbanded us.

We were used to supplement our patrol division. Forest service patrols, extra holiday enforcement, DUI and seat belt shifts. Treated like any other deputy, except no pay. The sheriff back then did not want to sink more money into training and equiping us; and we needed more personnel in the civil division. He put us all (4-5 of us) on as part-time serving papers and bailiffing the justice courts. It paid off though, I'm full-time now. Being a reserve kept going until I could retire from my first career, and made it a smooth transition to the next.

[mark7777]

we do not have any reserve officers here in our part of NY.If we had a reserve force set up like the LAPD reserve officers they could be helpful to the reg sworn officers The Unions here however Do not want reserve officers so I doubt they will be in NY anytime soon.

I have to give those of you that do reserve work for free alot of credit though-- MY job is difficult enough I know for myself I would not be A volunteer Paramedic or a volunteer RPA-C The paycheck that comes with my job helps.

[Zeus]

Yes, we have an Auxiliary Police in our department.

They go through the same training (police academy and field training) and are state certified like the full time officers. Once released from field training and gratuated the academy, they are able to patrol alone. They have the same uniforms, gear, and same duties. They are a volunteer force that come out and work at will or can work for a full time officers if they needs time off. They also work special events to leave the full time officers free to work the streets as normal.

They are a great asset to our department.

[Kevin_Callahan]

I did the reserve thing for a few years when I was a full time P.I.(now full-time PSO) I wanted to keep my foot in the door of law enforcement and it kept me from jiffin out. The department I worked for had a good system. The reserve could sign up and ride along with any officer. Reserves were utilized for second officer in a patrol car but especiually used for downtown festivals/parades. It is a good thing as it lets people get a real taste for law enforcement to see if it is what they want to do. The bad part is the guy that comes in and gets put on as a reserve only because he wants to carry a badge or flash it around.

[alanmoor]

1) We have 30 reserve officers that suppliment 30 merit patrolmen and 60 jail deputies. 8 of those 30 work the road in a patrol capacity with other reserves or alone. The remainder work festivals, the fair, school games, jail details, transports. etc. We have an active Mounted Patrol unit that is part of that 30 who regularly patrol on horseback and ride in parades.

2) Reserves are regularly requested by the community for details that either don't pay or don't pay enough for merit officers to be interested in. Patrol and Jail are regularly short of manpower and reserves supplement that. The reserves don't cost the community anything except minimal training costs and used equipment.

3) I think we're all idiots for doing this for free, especially with the political crap that goes with it. The opinions from the merit officers run the range of imagination.

[mac266]

My department does not have reserves, and I'm sorry I don't know why. However, my opinion of them tends to be very good because that's how I got started in law enforcement. In fact, I'm convinced that I got my current job (full-time LEO) because of some good things the department I was a reserve for said about me. In that department, reserves were utilized for everything -- patrol, extra duty (college football games, stakeouts, small town parades, etc.), jail, etc. This was a county S.O. My full-time job is for a mid-sized city, which is vastly different; however, some of the things I learned help me a lot.