Uncertified Officers Off the Street in Mich. Town

The cities in Michigan are so strapped for cash the administrators will try anything to save a buck. The unemployment is too far out of control to a point rising taxes to pay officer salary has become fruitless. Now the citizens are faced with rouge badges running around unsupervised having shallow minded judgment.

Oklahoma is the only known state that allows uncertified officers to work the street on their own. Uncertified officers have 6 months to obtain their certification. Small towns is big on doing this allowing uncertified officers to work on their own and that is why many problems happen such as traffic stops without having any probable cause. I am a law enforcement officer and also a CLEET instructor. I think it is a danger to the public to have uncertified officers on the street. Also for some Field Training Officers all they have on their mind is looking for drugs and do not train uncertified officers how to be police officers. The state of Oklahoma needs to do something about this and not allow uncertified officers to work the streets. When I first became a police officer, basically I was pretty stupid thinking I knew it all because of the lousy training officer I had and when I finally went to the police academy, I was like man I could have got into big trouble for that. So that is why all uncertified officers should not be aloud to patrol the streets on their own until they are full time certified.

Well thats funny. Here in Arizona most of our departments have reserve officers but all of our reserve officers are just that. They are all sworn, certified peace officers certified by the AZPOST. The reserve officers here are usually retired police officers who work for free and have the same authority as a full time career officer some of them are just people who want to be cops but have another career that they are working in. The Phoenix Police department has at least one reserve officer who is also an attourney. Most of the cities here have volunteers who can if needed drive fully marked police vehicles but they are limited to doing things such as traffic control at major events such as parades or accidents but most of the departments have vehicles that are dedicated for use by volunteers which either have an amber or all blue light bar as in Arizona all police cars have either red or red and blue lights in them and they are either marked volunteer or say morotist assist on them. Scottsdale Police use civilian police aides or assistants who drive fully marked cars to do things such as write parking violations and work traffic positions at car accidents but the thought of having a non sworn or certified person pull some one over is just mind blowing, they dont have a clue as what to do. I'm not a police officer and was a volunteer for a period of time and even if I were to have been allowed to I would never even think of performing a traffic stop, volunteers are unarmed and for the most part may only have a radio and a can of OC, not much of a match against a gun or knife even wiht the specialized training I was given, yes even on traffic stops. Leave that stuff to the sworn officers, thats what they are there for, just do what you can to be an assistant, the sworn officers dont need to be racing across town to assit you when you screw up a traffic stop because you didnt know what you were doing.

Arkansas also allows officers to work the street for up to 12 months prior to going to the academy. In the past it was not unusual to get a waiver for up to 18 months because both of the state LE academies were always overbooked so to speak. They opened a third one though and it is fairly rare now for an officer in a town with more than 2500 people to go more than 3 weeks before they are off to the academy. Some of the smaller towns still wait to send people though, and sometimes it is intentional. I have seen towns here that "pay" their officers less than minimum wage and also make them work in a "volunteer" status for 10-20 hours a week over and above the regular 40 hrs. Illegal as hell, but it happens anyway. Then when they are nearing their 12 month limit suddenly their position is eliminated. The mess these "agencies" cause can be insane at times.

In Ohio it depends on the Dept. Some depts have reserves that only go out with certified Officers, or you can be on the reserves but are certified. No matter if you are full time, part time, or a reserve, to carry a gun and have arrest powers you go to the same academy and the same hours. Then it's up to the department on if a certified reserve can work on his or her own, I did it for a year, worked like 40 hurs a week learning the job and was allowed to go out by my self. I think it helped before I got a part time and then a full time job.

I'm a MI cop and my department is down 4 cops... that's 1/5 of the department. Each shift is down to 2 or 3 cops from the 4 we used to have. Our wonderful state gov't is more concerned with landscaping than cops!! We have a brand new median the state put in that our public works department now has to spend there money to maintain - verses the concrete that used to be there. The project - 140,000 bucks!! While they took away 500K in share revenues!!! Gotta luv gov't!

The bad part about this article is it was submitted by former (and fired) Chief Chuck Melki's supporters. They thought it was a great program when Melki created it and was running the department. In my 18 yrs of law enforcment, I have never met a police officer that was as crooked and abusive as Melki. He is currently under investigation by the state police. He has violated LEIN policy, MCOLES standards, labor laws, and citizens' civil right rights more than u can imagine. He should not only be fired and under investigastion, but he should he be in prison.

Btw... The State Troopers' Motor Carrier's & Sheriff Pickell's weigh masters are not required by law to go to police academy either, just motor carrier school. But Pickell seems to think it is ok for his guys to do exactly what he is saying Clayton shouldnt be doing, with even less training. There is another piece of work. Another crook who got immunity to testify against the crooked stuff he and he boss were doing, then years later gets appointed sheriff by his buddies.

Newly appointed police officers can work in Tennessee for up to a year before attending the police academy. While this is more the exception and not the rule for most departments there are some that still hire new officers, drive them around for a week or two, and then hand them a gun, badge, map book, and cruiser keys and tell them to go patrol. I remember going to the academy with officers from small departments that already had supervisory rank and were just getting to the academy. Even worse, a Sheriff can make any person a special or reserve deputy with full arrest powers and that person because he is not full time LE never has to set foot in an academy. Counties still have Constables which are elected LEOs, normally the Constable just serves papers and process and assists at accidents and at the request of the Sheriff, but they govern themselves and have full powers including marking and lighting a personal vehicle with blue lights and using it to make traffic stops and respond to calls. While the majority of Constables run for the office with intentions of being an asset to the community and do just that once they are elected, there are the few who realize they get paid for each process they serve (traffic ticket) and can essentially bankroll a one man LE agency sitting on the interstate stopping speeders. Still others go out with great intentions of fixing crime problems i.e. narcotics and don't have the training or knowledge to properly build a case or see it to fruition.