Burlington police establishes reserve office program

Aug. 31--The Burlington Police Department is reviving its reserve officer program, and private fundraising to support it already is underway.

Burlington Police Chief Doug Beaird said the new squad, expected to have 10 officers when fully implemented, will be used to help the police department in most facets of community law enforcement.

"I think a reserve officer program can greatly supplement our full-time officers and what we are trying to do within the department for our community," Beaird said in a recent interview. "The city has some financial constraints, and we believe this is a great way to put more officers on the street."

It's a long-term project, though. Beaird doesn't expect to have all 10 reserves on board for at least three years. And while the department will begin taking applications in late September, the soonest a reserve officer will be on the streets is at least six months away.

Maj. Darren Grimshaw is overseeing the program's implementation and is helping rewrite the department's policies and procedures to accommodate the reserve program.

"I think it will be the end of September before we begin the application process," he said. "Then there is a long process involving training and certification before the reserves will be in uniform and on the street."

The police department had a reserve unit, but it was eliminated in the mid-2000s. Beaird and Grimshaw declined to say why the original unit was disbanded.

Beaird became police chief in 2012.

Initially, Beaird expects to approve six reserve officers for training, then eventually grow it to 10 officers. Each will be paid $1 a year to be qualified for workman's compensation should they be injured while on duty. He also said the reserve officers will be covered under the department's insurance for all its officers.

Certified and armed

Once certified, reserve officers will be armed and allowed to make arrests, Beaird said. He said each officer will be required to serve "eight hours on the street a month," not including meetings and on-going training sessions. They may be allowed to work up to 16 hours a month, he said.

"Each certified officer shall be vested with the same rights, privileges, obligations and duties of a peace officer in Burlington," he said. "Reserve officers may be called upon at any time to preserve peace and enforce the law under my direction."

Beaird said those accepted into the program must meet stringent requirements. Those requirements include:

*â Being between 21 and 55 years of age;

*â Have a high school diploma or GED;

*â Must pass background, fingerprint and drug tests;

*â Take the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test used to screen job candidates during the personnel selection process;

*â Have a valid Iowa drivers license; and

*â Pass eye, hearing and physical endurance tests, including a mile-and-a-half run.

Beaird said disqualifications would include a felony conviction; a consistent pattern of unexplained failures to meet debt obligations; false statements during the application process; or a history of extensive alcohol or illegal drug use.

He said the reserve officer program could be "a stepping stone" to becoming a full-time officer with the police department.

"I think we are going to go about establishing the reserve office program with the same attitude we do with our hiring process for our full-time officers," he said. "We are going to look for the absolute best-qualified candidates we can get."

A chance to move up

Beaird also said it will give individuals wanting to become full-time officers an opportunity to demonstrate their judgments and abilities as a law enforcement officer while a reserve.

Grimshaw agreed.

"We have several full-time officers on the department right now that were Burlington police reserve officers in the 1990s and early 2000s," he said. "I perceive this program as an opportunity for someone who wants to become a full-time officer to enter the reserve program with the intention of becoming a full-time officer.

"It gives us and them an opportunity to see how they act and what we expect from our officers. We get to see them at work on the street. They can get their foot in the door and learn our policies and procedures. It's a win-win situation for both," he said.

Burlington will join several other law enforcement agencies across the state with reserve officer programs, said Arlen Ciechanowski, director of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

He said there are 586 law enforcement departments in Iowa, including sheriffs' departments, police departments the Department of Natural Resources and conservation departments. However, the DNR and county conservation departments are not allowed by Iowa law to have reserve officers.

Ciechanowski said there are 186 police and sheriff's departments in the state with reserve officer programs.

In this area, sheriff's departments in Des Moines, Lee, Henry and Louisa counties have such programs. West Burlington and Fort Madison police departments also have reserve programs. Keokuk and Mount Pleasant do not.

The Des Moines County Sheriff's Department has the area's largest reserve force, with 18 officers on its squad.

"My ultimate goal would be to get 10 reserve officers in our program," Beaird said. "I think to sustain itself, that would be the ideal number we need. I think it will take about $5,000 to get each officer trained and on the street. The $5,000 per person includes training and equipment."

Private donations

The program will be funded through private donations and fundraising activities by various civic organizations, including the David A. Wunnenberg Community Policing Foundation.

"We need our community's support with this safety initiative," he said. "The police department cannot and has not been able to budget for a reserve program. Reserve officers are unpaid volunteers, yet they do come with a cost. The $5,000 will include the cost for the purchase of a gun, body armor, duty belt, Taser, radio, uniforms and daily operational supplies."

In the past, the department had as many as 46 full-time officers, Beaird said. It now has 40 full-time officers.

Beaird said reserves will be used to help full-time officers in a variety of ways, including crime scene security, traffic direction, routine calls for service, special-event support and providing support for full-time officers during critical incidents.

Beaird said an important aspect to the reserve squad is to allow some patrol units to have two officers assigned to one car during peak crime hours.

"I think it will be important to be able to have a reserve officer in the car with a full-time officer," he said. "By doing that, we will be able to send one car on a call, instead of two cars. And when you only have four or five patrol cars on the street at one time, that's a big deal."

Key is active members

Beaird also said the key to maintaining a quality reserve program is to allow the reserves to be active members of the department.

"We, as police administrators, have to realize these people are coming down here to volunteer and to help," he said. "They are not just coming down here to be part of a 'ride-along program.' Once they are trained, they will become a fully trained member of our department."

Beaird said he will not ask reserves to sign on for a specific amount of time.

"There are other departments who make their reserves sign a contract indicating how long they must stay a reserve officer," he said. "We will not do that. Our attitude is this: About the only thing we are going to get back if they decide to leave is the equipment we provide them.

"Obviously, we want some type of commitment from them, but through the interview process, the background process and getting to know people ... I am confident we will be able to determine who will make a commitment."

Although reserves initially will not participate directly in the criminal investigation division or narcotics task force, they will be fully certified as police officers.

Four to six months

Training will be extensive and thorough, Beaird said. However, they will not be required to attend the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy as required by full-time officers, he said.

Grimshaw agreed.

"I'm going to say it's going to take four to six months from application to certification before they will be able to be in uniform on the streets," he said. "There will be some ride-along observation before that. They will be required to complete 80 hours of training and 40 hours of supervised time."

Grimshaw said the certification process will be handled internally.

"The 80 hours of training involve a number of categories they will be instructed on by our own staff that have been certified by the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy to instruct," he said.

"No one will have to go to the academy. We have officers in our department who are certified to instruct our reserve officers on all aspects of the certification process. We also will have members of the Des Moines County attorney's office teaching our officers about legal issues."

Grimshaw said there will be two parts to their training: