Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Police Department is accepting applications for its new reserve officer program.
“We’ve had a number of applicants,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. “We’re still trying to gather more.”
In the first round of applications, 10 people applied, he said. The department would like to recruit more potential reserve officers to fill three positions, initially.
“We’re looking forward to the program,” Lynn said. He proposed the move during the City of Sweet Home’s spring budget sessions. He believes the program will augment what the department is doing now. Eventually, the department will have 10 reserve officers to help the existing ranks, which includes 10 patrol officers, a detective, two sergeants and the police chief.
More officers will provide more eyes and ears, he said, and it will alleviate some of the call load.
Reserve officer duties will depend on where they are in the program, but among them will be assisting with prisoner transport and court, he said. They’ll help during summer activities, such as the Oregon Jamboree and the Sportsman’s Holiday fireworks display.
The volunteer officers will attend a mandatory meeting and work 20 hours each month, Lynn said. The reserves will likely include those interested in working part-time as police officers but not interested in quitting their existing careers, as well as officers who are planning law enforcement careers.
Ideally, “it’s almost like a hiring pool,” he said. The department will already know the reserve officers if they apply for permanent full-time positions.
“I see nothing but benefits,” the chief said. The program will require a little more work, but he believes it also will, in time, help the department alleviate its workload.
He envisions a program in which officers are in different stages, he said.
The first step is the application process, Lynn said. Applicants are tested similarly to full-time officers, with physical and written tests. Afterward, the department interviews them and then conducts background checks. Finally, they will undergo a psychological test.
After successfully completing each step, the department may offer the applicant a job. Reserve officers must receive training afterward, likely through a program in Marion County, the Mid-Valley Reserve Training Academy. Reserve deputies from around the Willamette Valley operate the academy.
Reserve officers will pay for the academy, $400 per student, Lynn said. “It gives them some buy-in to the program.”
The academy is one night per week, Lynn said, and the department assigns each reservist a field training officer with the goal of getting the reserve officer to solo status.
Reserve officers initially ride with another officer. In the second stage, they more actively engage citizens, working side-by-side with the officer. Finally, they go solo. By the time a reserve officer is ready to go solo, he or she will have acquired nearly all the training of a full-time police officer, Lynn said.
Now the department needs to get the word out, Lynn said. “We’re going to actively start promoting this,” along with the department’s other volunteer programs, which are run by Community Services Officer Gina Riley.
Those opportunities include activities like peer court and speed monitoring.
For more information about the reserve program or other volunteer activities, call the Sweet Home Police Department at (541) 367-5181.