Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

How Las Vegas’ volunteer police programs work

Bus Shelter Hit-and-Run

Steve Marcus

Metro Police officers direct pedestrians away from a bus shelter after a hit-and-run accident on Sahara Avenue at Maryland Parkway Monday, March 30, 2015.

When a volunteer sheriff’s deputy accidentally shot and killed an unarmed man in Oklahoma earlier this month, a flurry of questions arose about his police agency’s reserve officer program. Among them: How could an unpaid volunteer wield a firearm and play cop?

Surprisingly, the practice is common. Nationwide, there are hundreds of thousands of volunteer reservists like Robert Bates, the 73-year-old man involved in the shooting death of Eric Harris earlier this month in Tulsa, Okla.

“From a national perspective, there are more agencies using reserve officers than not,” said Richard Weinblatt, a former North Carolina police chief who has volunteered in and led reserve programs across the nation.

He estimates that as many as a quarter of a million volunteer officers are scattered across the U.S. Some agencies also have volunteer programs where participants write tickets and do light desk work.

Here’s a look at volunteer police programs in Southern Nevada:

    • Metro Police

      The valley’s biggest police agency has a rigorous training program for people who want to volunteer as armed officers.

      The process resembles the same one used to hire regular, paid police. Requirements for qualifying applicants include the completion of a 420-hour police academy and a 200-hour field training course. Metro requires about as many hours of training as the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, Bates’ employer.

      But Metro, which has less than a handful of reserve officers today, hasn’t had an academy in years because the program hasn't gotten enough qualified applicants.

      “It’s not very widely used,” Officer Jesse Roybal said. “We have a very, very limited number of people in the program — it’s not something we use for daily police activity.”

      The agency has a separate volunteer program for people who help with light, non-police work. Those volunteers don’t carry guns.

      Officials couldn’t say this week how many people participate in that program, but they noted that the agency has many more volunteers performing desk jobs than patrol duties.

    • Henderson Police Department

      Henderson hasn’t had a reserve program in at least ten years, but it does have a volunteer program with about 100 participants who primarily do clerical work. They also help write citations for people parked in spots reserved for the disabled and help staff community events.

      “A good number of them are retired police officers, so it’s very easy for them,” spokeswoman Kathleen Richards said. “They don’t carry weapons, and obviously we don’t put them in dangerous situations.”

    • North Las Vegas Police Department

      About 15 to 20 people participate in North Las Vegas’ Volunteers in Police Service program, which is managed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Officer Aaron Patty says they help the agency with light duties.

      North Las Vegas doesn’t have a reserve officer program, either.

    • Nye County Sheriff's Office

      Clark County’s neighbor to the west also takes applications for reserve deputy positions.

      But it’s unclear whether the program is in use today — attempts to reach agency officials were unsuccessful.

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