About The Reserve - Minnesota Police Reserve Officers Association

Who Are Reserve Officers?

+ You’ve probably seen them on patrol or at an emergency scene and didn’t notice anything special about them. These brave men and women work alongside professional peace officers, providing essential support to law enforcement agencies, except they do it without compensation. They are ordinary men and women who volunteer their time to do an extraordinary job, serving their country by serving their communities as uniformed officers. Time and again, they put themselves in harm’s way doing a job that most people only ever watch on television. Reserve police officers and sheriff’s deputies are on-call 24 hours a day, often leaving home or work on a moment’s notice, never knowing what the next emergency call or routine patrol shift will bring. They do it only for a love of country and a calling to serve their fellow citizens.

+ Police and sheriff’s reserve programs have come a long way in the past half-century. Many reserve units originated in the days of Civil Defense following the Second World War, when local law enforcement agencies recruited and trained volunteers to serve as auxiliary police forces in the event of mass evacuations and other major disasters. Today’s police and sheriff’s reserve units are an integral part of modern law enforcement agencies, augmenting the patrol, special operations, and emergency preparedness capabilities of departments throughout the state. Reserve police officers and reserve sheriff’s deputies wear familiar blue or brown uniforms similar to full-time personnel and drive marked police vehicles. They perform a wide variety of duties that enhance the quality and volume of police services that local law enforcement agencies are able to provide to their communities. Common duties include:

1 Patrolling highways, roads, parks, and schools;
2 Issuing citations for summary offenses;
3 Responding to medical calls, fire calls, and accident scenes;
4 Answering low priority calls for service such as animal control, nuisance complaints, and vehicle lockouts, keeping career officers free for high priority calls;
5 Transporting prisoners to jail facilities;
6 Working as a “second officer” on patrol with career officers;
7 Providing security and a police presence at school and community events;
8 Assisting stalled/stranded motorists;
9 Administering crime prevention and other public safety programs;
10 Handling found/seized property and impounded vehicles;
11 Securing crime scenes and protecting evidence;
12 Providing specialized patrol on boats, ATVs, and snowmobiles;
13 Directing traffic;
14 Performing search and rescue operations

+ The duties of reserve officers can vary considerably from one agency to another. Some cities and counties have very progressive reserve programs and utilize reserve officers in a wide variety of capacities, while others have very basic programs with limited duties for reservists. The MPROA encourages citizens to find out more about the police and sheriff’s reserve units in their communities.

 + Except for fewer than 100 officers in only a few law enforcement agencies scattered across the state, reserve police officers and reserve deputy sheriffs in Minnesota generally are not sworn peace officers. That is, they are not licensed by the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training (MN POST) to enforce the criminal laws of the state. Stated differently, non-sworn officers do not have the authority to investigate crimes, issue citations for misdemeanor or greater offenses, and do not have full powers of arrest. In approximately 40 out of 50 states and in most countries of the world, reserve officers have the same authority as career officers, but Minnesota and a handful of other states have been subject to certain political pressures to limit the role of unpaid and nonunion personnel.

 + Some reserve police officers and reserve deputy sheriffs are pursuing careers in professional law enforcement, but many are civic-minded adults wanting to give back to their communities. Law enforcement reservists come from all professions, blue collar and white collar, and represent all income levels, age groups, ethnicity’s, and lifestyles. They share a common patriotism and calling to public service and an uncommon dedication to their vocation as law enforcement reservists. Reserve officers represent the very finest of American citizens, giving their time to serve in uniform doing one of the most challenging and dangerous volunteer jobs in the America.  