Some anonymous commenter (funnylibs) on today’s Northwest Herald article about the profitability of the McHenry County Jail took a jab at me for my prior service as a reserve deputy sheriff in Colorado, so I thought I’d explain just how that worked.
In 1964 I had been a part-time police office in a small Iowa town while I attended college. The town, Mount Vernon, had a day officer and a night officer, and no one was on duty between shifts. I noticed many drivers speeding through the school zone and ignoring school walk light signals, so I pestered the town council until one night the Mayor/Police Chief/Judge/Chairman of the Education Dept. of the College threw a badge at me and said, “If you think you can do something about it, go do it.” And I did.
In 1973 I was living in Aurora, Colo. and learned that the Arapahoe County (Colo.) Sheriff’s Department had a large reserve component of volunteer deputy sheriffs. I volunteered, and I served until about 1981.
My first assignment was as a dispatcher, because the patrol division was full. Within a few months I was able to transfer to Patrol, which was exactly where I wanted to be. Initially, I rode with a full-time deputy, who served (sort of) as a field training officer.
Then I was authorized for “solo” patrol duty and was permitted to work full or partial shifts and be responsible for assigned patrol districts, just as the full-time deputies were.
In about 1977 I bought a police-equipped Harley-Davidson from a volunteer who was resigning.
I often said that, when I tired of selling life insurance early on a nice day, I would knock off early, go home, wash the motorcycle, shower, put on my uniform, grab my gun and bullet, and go out to “terrorize” the citizens for 8-10 hours. I made many traffic stops but, if a little polite “roadside counseling” would solve the problem, I didn’t write a ticket.
Why did I quit?
The Department had an armorer who had a reputation for destroying weapons. I had had trouble with my duty weapon and had taken it to an expert for repair. One night at a class there was a surprise weapons inspection, and I refused to allow the armorer to inspect my weapon out of my sight. I was willing for him to touch it while I stood there, so long as he did not put a screwdriver anywhere near it. A lieutenant made a big deal out of it, and I handed in my commission card that night.
The next day I wrote a letter to the sheriff, and ten days later a new rule was issued. After that, all weapons were to be inspected at the range only and all deputies would fire their weapons after inspection.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
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