Considering the way the Texas County Sheriff Department’s caseload has steadily increased over the past couple of years, it stands to reason that the agency’s officers have experienced a similar increase in their duties.
To help keep up with an ever-increasing boom in business, the TCSD has brought back a volunteer reserve officer program after an absence of about two years. Even though they’re not paid, the department’s 10 reserves have authority equal to regular deputies when they’re on duty.
“They carry the same weight and power as any other officer we have on board,” Lt. Melissa Dunn said. “They carry a firearm and they’re able to make arrests. The only difference is one’s paid and one’s not.”
The TCSD’s new reserves are all graduates of the Missouri Sheriff’s Association Academy and were chosen out of 17 candidates who responded to an ad on the association’s website. By state law, reserve officers must be certified peace officers through the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
“The law changed several years back,” Dunn said. “It used to be that you could deputize anybody to help you out, but now reserves have to be certified.”
Most volunteers have their sights set on being paid to do a similar job.
“They went through the academy so they could have a career in law enforcement,” Dunn said. “There aren’t a lot of departments hiring right now, but departments that do hire will hire people with experience.”
About half of Texas County’s reserves have some form of previous experience, while the rest are getting their feet wet for the first time. Either way, they offer a needed and valuable service.
“It’s allowed us to double our force for the same price,” Dunn said. “That’s something I wish we could do every day, but financially we’re not able to.”
With reserves available to go out on patrol and perform other daily tasks, the TCSD’s seven full-time, paid deputies are better able to focus on follow-up of existing leads and cases.
“When the reserves aren’t here, the paid guys are trying to handle incoming calls plus the follow-ups on cases they’re already working,” Dunn said. “This gives them a little relief so they can concentrate more on their cases on a given day or night.”
In order to maintain their status, volunteers are required to serve for at least 10 hours a month and take part in a continuing education program. Dunn said Texas County’s new reserves all exceeded their requirements during their first month. They hit the ground running, so to speak, and helped out with last week’s big drug sweep that involved numerous agencies, dozens of officers, and had been in the works for close to three years.
Dunn said the reserve program was discontinued in the county about a year or two ago because of inactivity on the part of the participants.
“At the time it wasn’t working because they weren’t volunteering,” she said. “But we decided to try it again, and based on the performance and attitude of the ones we have now, we’ll have no problem and they’ll be an asset to the department.”
They carry the same weight and power as any other officer we have on board. They carry a firearm and they’re able to make arrests. The only difference is one’s paid and one’s not.”