Reducing the Cost of Crime Through Reserve Police Officers and Volunteer Citizen Patrol
Law enforcement agencies have been committed and dedicated to protecting citizens and maintaining a safe society. Their work is not the easiest as it can sometimes become time-consuming and get tedious. While they serve a crucial role in society, most governments lack the funds to have adequate manpower. The shortage of police or law enforcement officers impedes law enforcement agencies’ ability to carry out their tasks effectively. David Singleton of Maplewood, MN explains how the city can benefit by reducing costs, adding manpower, and freeing up officers to increase training procedures.
For this reason, law enforcement agencies have come with several innovations to help them serve society adequately. We are talking about law enforcement technologies and even the use of reserve police officers and volunteer citizen patrols. The new and redefined ideas have come with tons of benefits. Reserve officers can be potential recruits, military veterans, retired or former officers, and persons from the private sector. Volunteer citizen patrol volunteers to help the police with law enforcement meet the law enforcement challenges being faced by the community.
Here is how the cost of crime has been reduced through volunteer citizen patrol and reserve police officers.
1. Balancing the community needs amidst financial constraints
David Singleton states “The demand for law enforcement agencies is always high. There are tons of agencies today. However, the problem comes in that only a small fraction of them have been sworn in. These are unable to meet the needs of the community adequately.”
While addressing the financial obligations that come with the swearing-in of more personnel, the engagement of reserve police officers and volunteer citizen patrol has helped law enforcement meet the community’s ever-growing needs. Reserve officers complement the sworn officers saving the law enforcement agencies a lot of costs both in benefits and salaries.
2. Small agencies with smaller budgets are able to meet the needs of the community adequately
While some agencies may have the money to hire private investigators and other law enforcement skills, the smaller agencies may lack the capacity. This can get in the way of their ability to meet the growing needs of the community effectively.
According to David Singleton, Skilled reserves come in handy, helping the smaller agencies that may be unable to put specialized law enforcement skills on their payroll. When the need for the different skills arises, the agencies can count on the reserve officers and volunteer citizen patrol to take care of the hand’s tasks without having the financial burden.
3. Military veterans
Military veterans serving as reserve officers provide law enforcement agencies with a cost advantage. Note that the military veterans have information and superior skills that the agencies would have to pay a lot more if they were to swear them. Serving as reserve officers, the military veterans bring knowledge, information, and skill to the table at a minimal cost.
In Conclusion
Reserve police officers and volunteer citizen patrol complement law enforcement, bringing extraordinary skillsets and support at minimal costs as stated by David Singleton of Maplewood, MN. This has helped the agencies serve society adequately without straining their finances. Reserve police officers and volunteer patrol will continue bridging the gap in skill, experiences, and cost.
About David A. Singleton
The Honorable David A. Singleton was born in raised in St. Paul Minnesota. He started his work in Maplewood, Minnesota in 2017 when he was appointed by the Maplewood City Council 2017 to the Police Use of Force Advisory Board.
