As a result of a thread about Special Constables in the U.K.(People with normal jobs who volunteer and get trained as unpaid Police)I became aware that there are equivalents in the U.S. and maybe other countries.
I saw something on the American TV version of The Office" where one of the lead characters was some sort of volunteer Deputy.
Could someone tell me about "Civilian"police in the U.S. or anywhere?
What you do,how much time you put in,the attitude of the regular LEOs to you plus any web sites that would be informative.
I have no hidden agenda for this,I’m too old to join myself but I’m genuinly interested in the subject now that my interest has been piqued.
They are sworn by the State, just like full time LEOs, and carry full police powers to effect arrests.
They go through the Academy, although I believe depending on the Reserve’s “level,” the Reserve Academy can be a bit shorter than the full-timers.
I believe they are required to volunteer a minimum of 16 hours per month.
Some argue that Reserves have a leg up on full timers, since they are not exposed to the bottom of the society barrel day in and day out. Others argue the Reserves have a number of cowboys, i.e. those who become cops to go on a power trip with the public interest not at the forefront of their mind.
The **Garda Reserve ** in Ireland is a voluntary unpaid body drawn from the community to assist the existing Service at times when extra personnel are required.
Thanks guys I genuinly find what you’ve passed on to me bloody interesting.
We all like to think of ourselves as being good citizens but those blokes match their words with actions.
Any other countries out there apart from the U.S. and the R.O.I. who support the same sort of programmes?
Or maybe non urban parts of America?
Obviously I dont expect any sort of reply from the Canadians because we all know that they’re all such bloody good people that they dont need auxillary police except maybe to deal with those crimes arising from the dastardly Americans wandering over their borders.
I’m pretty sure most major Canadian police forces have auxiliaries, such as the Toronto Police Service’s.
Edit to add: I may be wrong, actually. A search of Vancouver Police Department’s website suggests that they created an Auxiliary force in the 50’s, but I can’t find any evidence that they still maintain it.
Erik Estrada from the TV show CHiPs is a reserve officer in the Muncie, Indiana police departent. He got into this for a short-lived reality program. You can imagine the surprise of some people when they were arrested by Ponch from CHiPs.
Some small US communities will supplement their police with reservists, but I’ve found that these are often technical people, locksmiths, explosives men, etc.
There is a difference between “part-time” and “reserve” in most communities in the U.S.
In many communities “reserve” officers are not sworn, carry no weapons, and have no arrest powers. They may or may not be paid a wage. They work during special events (fairs, parades, etc…) and are, in effect, like a security guard. Their training is minimal.
“Part-time” officers are just that. They have been through the police academy, have full arrest powers, and carry weapons. They are usually paid, but an hourly wage, not salary. They [usually] don’t have benefits or union representation. they do regular police work, just in a part-time manner. Many young people who want to get into police work take part-time patrol gigs, as do many retirees.
After I retired from full time law enforcement I took a job with a different department part-time. I get no benefits (insurance/vacation/sick pay) but I don’t need them. I do regular patrol work. I have full arrest powers and I carry weapons. I’m limited to working 1200 hours per year, but I doubt if I’ll work more than 800. I get an hourly wage of $21 per hour. This department also has reserve officers. They are not sworn, have no arrest powers, carry no weapons, and get about $9 an hour.
FWIW, the NYPD Auxiliaries have significantly more power and responsibilities than reserve officers in most departments. They are unpaid volunteers, but are sworn peace officers under New York law, have full arrest powers, carry police radios and even have their own fleet of cruisers. They are not permitted to carry firearms on duty, however, nor are they allowed to respond to calls involving guns or weapons.
No such thing in Spain, the closest is DYA (Detente Y Ayuda, stop to help), which was born as a group dedicated to assisting and preventing road accidents but which also collaborates with Red Cross and police in many other kinds of emergencies. You may find a roadblock into a flooded area manned exclusively by DYA; if someone gets stupid with them they’ll call in someone from whichever police corps is coordinating the work.
They don’t do police work as in “investigations,” nor do they have more power to arrest someone than any other civilian.
No voluntary policemen in Iceland, but the “Rescue Services” is almost entirely manned by volunteers.
Those are the guys who go hunting for renegade tourists lost on glaciers, keep the national parks in a decent shape and assist you with pretty much anything (from a flat tire to calling a chopper) if you stumble upon them when in the highlands. They are also the only ones who are allowed to sell fire-works, which is pretty much the only income the RS has.
One of the major maritime rescue organisations in the U.K.The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is funded entirely by charitable donations and as far as I know receives no government funding.
It performs mostly offshore sea rescues and is manned by volunteers who usually have normal jobs(Traditionally fishermen though things might be changing there with the downsizing of the Fishing Industry).
There are also I believe various other rescue organisations covering a broad spectrum of functions,mountain,cave and inshore rescue, amongst others.
On the official but part time volunteer theme we also have Firemen who are paid when they are actually called out.
I believe that they have volunteer firemen in the U.S. but I must admit that this is only what I have gleaned from American movies so whether this is still/ever was true I dont honestly know.
What’s the RS? The only thing that I could figure out from context in this thread that it might mean is Rescue Services. Come on, people, when you use an abbreviation in a thread, think about whether most people will understand it. In any case, temporarily assigning people from other organizations to fight fires is not equivalent to volunteer fire departments in the U.S. The members of volunteer fire departments are not on temporary assignments from other organizations. People are volunteers in fire departments for years, sometimes for decades. They are trained (in weekend classes, I guess) to do it. Often the area is so remote that it simply would be impossible to hire paid firemen. In other areas it’s easier to use volunteers than set up a paid fire-fighting service. An example of temporarily assigning people to an emergency job in the U.S. would be the use of the National Guard for assistance in emergencies like hurricane relief. (The National Guard are more or less the reserve military units that can be called up to return to military service.)
The majority of small towns in Tennessee are totally dependent on Volunteer Fire Departments. No full-timers, beyond the 9-1–1 dispatchers.
There is an up side to it, though. The firemen compose a local clique, often with a moderate amount of political clout, at the local/county level of government.
