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Senate supports creation of police reserve force
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Posted on Jan 24 2006
The Senate wants civilian volunteers to augment the current police force.
The lawmakers recently voted unanimously to pass Senate Bill 15-27, which would establish a civilian volunteer police reserve unit to assist the Department of Public Safety.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives.
“[T]he present number of Department of Public Safety employees may be insufficient to carry out [its] duties and responsibilities in the event that a crisis, either natural or man-made, occurs within the Commonwealth,” stated the bill, authored by Sen. Paterno S. Hocog.
“The Legislature, therefore, finds that it would be prudent to establish a Civilian Volunteer Police Reserve Unit to allow additional personnel to be available to assist [DPS] in addressing any such potential crisis,” it added.
According to the bill, the civilian police unit will be on an entirely voluntary basis. Members will serve as backup personnel and will receive training on a regular basis.
Whenever on active duty, reserve officers will have the same powers, duties, rights privileges, and immunities as if they were paid, full-time members of the police force.
Each member of the reserve unit who successfully completes probationary requirements, as established by the DPS commissioner, will receive an hourly wage equivalent to the average hourly wage of all DPS personnel, regardless of rank.
Members of the reserve unit that are retired police officers will receive an hourly wage that is the equivalent of the hourly wage received by a police officer that is of the same rank as that retired police officer that attained prior to retirement.
