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Where Do You Find Them?
In hard economic times and with substantial initial training requirements, where do you find citizen volunteers who can afford to spend many hours attending an academy and many more hours of field training? In California it’s over 665 hours for the academy and 400 hours for the field training program. That’s a heck of a commitment for little or no pay. Here are a few ideas you might try to get the word out.
When the holidays approach most agencies find themselves short-handed. This is an opportune time to get your community to appreciate your volunteers’ efforts and promote your reserve programs while stepping up patrol services.
In San Diego County, the San Diego Reserve Commanders Association, through its member agencies, sponsors a joint operation each winter. Combined reserve units from the county meet and patrol numerous shopping malls. It’s a high visibility way to be seen by the good and bad guys in areas where crimes spike and the extra patrol will have an impact. And to make inroads in community relations the officers explain the purpose of the stepped-up patrols and demonstrate their departments’ commitment to public safety. ‘Tis the season? You bet.
Last year and in just one weekend, reserve officers made five felony and six misdemeanor arrests; wrote 44 traffic citations and seven warnings; conducted a boatload of field interviews of bad guys, had multiple citizen contacts and impounded two vehicles. Good results for one weekend. It was a great event for public safety and a terrific opportunity for the public to see reserve officers in action.
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