Faced with new state police training requirements, some auxiliary units disband

Meg McIntyre, Special To State House News Service
June 08, 2022

Come July, some Bay State police departments are set to have smaller footprints as their volunteer units go offline.

June 30 is the deadline for the first wave of reserve officers, including part-time officers and volunteers whose last names begin with the letters A through H, to complete new training requirements set forth by the Municipal Police Training Committee in accordance with the police reform law Gov. Charlie Baker signed in late 2020.

But, citing logistical issues with completing the training, some departments are choosing instead to shutter their auxiliary units, which are staffed by volunteers who typically assist with traffic direction, provide security at community events and supplement staffing in emergencies or when call volume is high.

In Southbridge, one such community, the chief calls the decision a difficult one that could have ripple effects on the department's workforce pipeline. In Haverhill, the loss of volunteers is expected to affect the cost of security at community fundraising events...


Complete article:

https://www.wbur.org/news/2022...y-police-constraints

In my Dept, most of us started as part timers either as special or Permanent/Intermittent officers. This will hurt, they have been forcing for more than a few years. Vacations, difficult at best..

This affects me directly. I have been a member of one of these departments for over 15 years, albeit less active since covid started and this law was passed. I believe in order to stay on legally I'd have to go to a full-time police academy. Which I cannot do.

Auxiliary units also provide a large presence at the starting line of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton. So it'll be interesting to see how they supplement that in the future.

Reading this really saddens me. I'm in Texas, where almost 25 years ago our state reserve officers association worked with legislators and the state's peace officers licensing agency to head off this problem.

Since 1999, reserves have taken the full Texas peace officer course through regional or department-run academies, going to class two nights a week and every Saturday for nine months with a few breaks.

After completing the course and passing the state exam, graduates receive the same peace officer license as full-time recruits and can be hired by any Texas law enforcement agency. They have the same on- and off-duty authority as full-time officers.

Many remain reserves due to their more lucrative careers in the private sector. I often joked to people that my better-paying full-time sales jobs kept getting in the way of my law enforcement career.

In most Texas law enforcement agencies, reserves do exactly the same jobs as full-time officers---they just don't get paid for it. Many states have very similar programs, and most of their agencies utilize reserves the same way as Texas does.

Unfortunately, some states---particularly in the northeastern US---still restrict their volunteer forces to mostly non-law enforcement duties (special events, traffic direction, etc.) and very limited powers of arrest.

Massachusetts is one of those states. Its failure to anticipate the need for part-time academies and develop schedules that can accommodate people with full-time civilian careers means fewer officers on the street.