Council Approves Addition Of Reserve Officers

The City Council approved a request by the local police department to add reserve officers to their roster at their meeting January 15.

According to Police Captain Darren Huff, the reserve officers would be used as a support to active officers in the department in times of need.

“They would be used specifically for Farmer’s Day parades and things like that where we have a limited staff on hand. They would provide us with a little more coverage,” Huff said.

As the reserve officers would not be fully active, fully certified and only working approximately eight hours a month, their participation and contribution to the police force would be conducted under the supervision of a certified officer already serving on the local police force.

“That is a way to protect them in the case that there is litigation. We would want to keep them out of court as much as we can, and when there is a full time officer present to be able to do that, it’s better for them,” Huff said.

Huff emphasizes that this reserve program will strengthen the current police force and help the current force better serve the city. The reserve program would also help the department keep the number of officers they already have.

“From my experience, having reserves really helps retention within the department, because there’s that camaraderie with more officers available,” Huff said.

Chief of Police Mark Simpson added that the reserve program would also help increase the hiring pool for the department.

“That helps us out a lot here especially in Western Nebraska where it is difficult to bring individuals from another location. We would actually have an in-house pool to choose to hire from. That’s where we usually try to get our reserves, because they already know the area, the people, and the program,” Simpson said.

The program also comes at no cost to the city.

“There is zero cost in training, zero cost in going to the academy. There is nothing that we’re putting out of pocket at this time. It would behoove the city to accept this and help our department be able to maintain a better atmosphere for the community,” Simpson said.

Reserve officers will be required to go through the same tests as full time officers and go through training before they are allowed to work for the force, according to Captain Huff.