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Reserves boon to law enforcement agencies

Reserve officers are a law enforcement resource which greatly benefits local police agencies and saves taxpayers money, while providing more protection for citizens.

The Gilmer Police Department and Upshur County Sheriff’s Office both utilize reserves.

Gilmer Police Chief James Grunden said that his department generally maintains four reserve officers on staff, who donate a total of 400 to 450 hours a year, in 8- to 10-hour shifts. He was unsure how much money that saves Gilmer, but “it’s a lot.”

The reserves work when they are not at their regular jobs, and may be assigned to any shift when they are free, Grunden said.

Gilmer provides its reserves with uniforms and bullet-proof vests, but they provide their own weapons and donate their time.

“The reserve program is a good program,” Grunden said.

He said that reserves have to get the same training as regular officers, and “the upkeep is the same.”

They must have graduated from a certified police academy. For some reserves, it is a hobby, he said, but others want to work into law enforcement.

“For some, it is a way to help out,” he said.

They are especially helpful in working special events, such as security at the Yamboree. Reserves will sometimes ride with regular officers.

Other circumstances which have occurred include going to the East Texas Medical Center Gilmer emergency room to oversee a mental patient so a regular officer could get back on the street.

Grunden said that the state does not allow reserves to be used to replace regular officers for vacation coverage. “What they provide is in addition to what regular paid officers do,” he added. They can be used on any shift when available.

Including Chief Grunden, the Gilmer Police Department has 21 regular personnel, including three full-time and one part-time dispatchers.

Upshur County Sheriff Anthony Betterton said that reserves help out a lot in his department, too. He said that he has a total staff (outside the jail personnel) of about 35, plus five or six reserve deputies. He said that reserve deputies typically donate at least 20 hours a month.

Reserves are considered an important-enough part of law enforcement that they have a regular devoted to them in the premier law enforcement magazine, American Cop, “written by cops for cops.”

The Reserves (“Dedication and Professionalism that Goes Beyond Pay”) column in the May-June issue was subtitled, “Utilizing the Underutilized.”

Author Perry Hornbarger said that “roughly 25 members of my unit donate almost 12,000 hours per year. Two of them worked over 1,000 each on the street. That’s pretty darn amazing when you consider the average wage earning working a standard 40-hour week works 2,080 per year (excluding vacation and holidays).

“I wish I knew the secret to their motivation. I’d certainly share it with you guys. Incidentally, both of these guys have a life; one’s a postmaster with the U.S. Postal Service and the other’s an attorney,” Hornbarger wrote.

gilmergreene@gmail.com