| LAW AND ORDER: THE MAGAZINE FOR POLICE MANAGEMENT April 1995 Vol. 43, Number 4 N. Carolina Reserves Among Top Ranked: Volunteers Find the Sweat and Hard Work are Worth It by Richard B. Weinblatt (pp. 15-16) |
The career move that David Kale made in law enforcement is indicative of the respect
reserve law enforcers have earned in North Carolina. Reversing the procedure of what
many reserve officers do, Kale has served nine years as a volunteer police officer-
following an 11-year full-time career in state and county law enforcement.
Currently serving as one of the Charlotte Police Department’s top reserve officers,
Reserve Major Kale discharges some of his countless hours of service high above the
metropolitan area as an observer in a police helicopter. Kale and his 41 sworn fellow
reservists, fully certified by the state, work mobile data terminal (MDT)-equipped district
cars solo, as well as a variety of other duties.
“There are many opportunities for reserves,” Jim Hoyng, chief of police for the 182 sworn
full-time High Point Police Department commented. Hoyng’s complement of reserve
officers numbers 17.
“Two of our reserves are trained hostage negotiators who have attended advanced
training in Baltimore. One of them, Gart Evans, is an 11-year reserve who works full-time
as the dean of students for High Point University. He was a negotiator during a recent jail
riot.”
As with Charlotte, High Point’s reserve officers are state certified, having attended a
minimum 432-hour basic training course at locations such Guilford County Technical
College or Davidson Community College. The time commitment is extensive. For
example, Guilford County Technical College, based in Jamestown, NC, has a six-month
stint requiring attendance four nights a week and every other Saturday.
Chief Hoyng related how one young man, who has since joined the department as a
salaried police officer, went through the 480 hour school full-time five days a week for 12
weeks. That experience certainly cemented the perception that, as Chief Hoyng put it;
“The reserves have been a great feeder system for the department’s full-time officers”
In general, North Carolina’s cities, such as Charlotte, Durham, and High Point, tend to run
tight operations with clear policies and strict training mandates governing their reserve
programs. Among the other agencies with respected programs are the Asheville,
Greensboro, and Winston-Salem Police Departments.
While there has been a steady trend away from the practice, anecdotal evidence suggests
that the county sheriff’s departments still have a streak of politicism running through their
reserve deputy sheriff operations. The indiscriminate handing out of badges and Ids has
diminished but is still alive and well in North Carolina’s sheriff’s departments.
As detailed in the book Reserve Law Enforcement in the United States, reserves in the Tar
Heel State, serving a population of almost seven million people, stand out in a crowded
national field of non-full-time law enforcement personnel. The state has set the tone for a
progressive approach to reserve officer utilization.
With only one level of training for both reserves and full-timers, the distinction comes only
in the form of municipal police officers versus county deputy sheriffs. Municipal officers
must have at least 432 hours of academy training, while deputy sheriffs get a minimum of
444 hours of basic training. The state has almost 5,000 reserves with some 3,000
reserves serving sheriff’s departments and around 2,000 working for city police forces.
Several of those interviewed for this column cited only one main area that needs to be
improved. The success that states such as California, Colorado, Iowa, and Texas have
had with the modular concept of reserve officer training is greatly missed in North Carolina
where an aspiring reservist must take on the whole training challenge in one unbroken
time frame.
“I don’t know how these people do it,” Chief Hoyng said. He is no slouch when it comes to
hard work, as he holds three undergraduate degrees from Guilford College in
Greensboro, NC, and is a graduate of the prestigious Southern Police Institute (SPI). “Our
training course is a long hard process when you have a full-time job and a family.”
But Hoyng’s reserves, who serve the 46.7 square mile, 71,000-population municipality,
aren’t the only ones who don the uniform and sacrifice to serve their neighbors. In the city
of Durham, NC, 50 reserve officers serve a minimum of 16 hours a month and are trained
to the 500-hour mark, exceeding the state’s minimum requirement. Durham’s reserve
officers, who carry an agency provided .45 sidearm, face a daunting academy experience
three nights a week and some Saturdays for seven months.
But, as with full-timers, the training just begins when the Academy commencement
exercises are concluded. The heavily-documented field training officer (FTO) program for
reserve officers are hefty undertakings by themselves and come in at 192 hours for High
Point, 480 hours for Durham, and a whopping 960 hours for Charlotte.
The sweat and hard work appears to be worth it. Durham administrators stated that the
reserves have saved the city a quarter of a million dollars a year. Kale, a busy and
successful private sector businessman, said that Charlotte’s reserves must put in at least
12 hours per month and that 14,811 hours were donated last year on patrol, as well as in
such exotic assignments as the Street Drug Interdiction Unit.
High Point Police Department reservists work patrol, Tac Team, detectives, warrants and
the traffic section, as well as being responsible for the coordination of special events such
as walk-a-thons. Filling in some of the non-traditional gaps are the City of High Point’s
squad of specialized police reserves, such as lawyers and doctors, who bring rare and
much needed skills to the agency.
High Point and Charlotte differ in one aspect. Chief Hoyng eschews the use of reserve
ranks, citing the public’s confusion and inconsistency with the department’s philosophy of
earned merit promotions.
High Point does use reserves to administer the program and do in fact bestow a good
amount of behind the scene responsibility on them staring with unit executive officer R.J.
“Jerry” Culler. Charlotte uses a rank structure, which is visible on the uniform.
Whatever the insignia, reserves in North Carolina have earned their place among the top-
ranked reserves in the nation. They clearly have a solid foundation upon which to build
for the future.
Richard B. Weinblatt, author of the book “Reserve Law Enforcement in the United
States,” is a full-time law enforcement officer in the southwestern U.S. and a regular
contributor to Law and Order.
reserve law enforcers have earned in North Carolina. Reversing the procedure of what
many reserve officers do, Kale has served nine years as a volunteer police officer-
following an 11-year full-time career in state and county law enforcement.
Currently serving as one of the Charlotte Police Department’s top reserve officers,
Reserve Major Kale discharges some of his countless hours of service high above the
metropolitan area as an observer in a police helicopter. Kale and his 41 sworn fellow
reservists, fully certified by the state, work mobile data terminal (MDT)-equipped district
cars solo, as well as a variety of other duties.
“There are many opportunities for reserves,” Jim Hoyng, chief of police for the 182 sworn
full-time High Point Police Department commented. Hoyng’s complement of reserve
officers numbers 17.
“Two of our reserves are trained hostage negotiators who have attended advanced
training in Baltimore. One of them, Gart Evans, is an 11-year reserve who works full-time
as the dean of students for High Point University. He was a negotiator during a recent jail
riot.”
As with Charlotte, High Point’s reserve officers are state certified, having attended a
minimum 432-hour basic training course at locations such Guilford County Technical
College or Davidson Community College. The time commitment is extensive. For
example, Guilford County Technical College, based in Jamestown, NC, has a six-month
stint requiring attendance four nights a week and every other Saturday.
Chief Hoyng related how one young man, who has since joined the department as a
salaried police officer, went through the 480 hour school full-time five days a week for 12
weeks. That experience certainly cemented the perception that, as Chief Hoyng put it;
“The reserves have been a great feeder system for the department’s full-time officers”
In general, North Carolina’s cities, such as Charlotte, Durham, and High Point, tend to run
tight operations with clear policies and strict training mandates governing their reserve
programs. Among the other agencies with respected programs are the Asheville,
Greensboro, and Winston-Salem Police Departments.
While there has been a steady trend away from the practice, anecdotal evidence suggests
that the county sheriff’s departments still have a streak of politicism running through their
reserve deputy sheriff operations. The indiscriminate handing out of badges and Ids has
diminished but is still alive and well in North Carolina’s sheriff’s departments.
As detailed in the book Reserve Law Enforcement in the United States, reserves in the Tar
Heel State, serving a population of almost seven million people, stand out in a crowded
national field of non-full-time law enforcement personnel. The state has set the tone for a
progressive approach to reserve officer utilization.
With only one level of training for both reserves and full-timers, the distinction comes only
in the form of municipal police officers versus county deputy sheriffs. Municipal officers
must have at least 432 hours of academy training, while deputy sheriffs get a minimum of
444 hours of basic training. The state has almost 5,000 reserves with some 3,000
reserves serving sheriff’s departments and around 2,000 working for city police forces.
Several of those interviewed for this column cited only one main area that needs to be
improved. The success that states such as California, Colorado, Iowa, and Texas have
had with the modular concept of reserve officer training is greatly missed in North Carolina
where an aspiring reservist must take on the whole training challenge in one unbroken
time frame.
“I don’t know how these people do it,” Chief Hoyng said. He is no slouch when it comes to
hard work, as he holds three undergraduate degrees from Guilford College in
Greensboro, NC, and is a graduate of the prestigious Southern Police Institute (SPI). “Our
training course is a long hard process when you have a full-time job and a family.”
But Hoyng’s reserves, who serve the 46.7 square mile, 71,000-population municipality,
aren’t the only ones who don the uniform and sacrifice to serve their neighbors. In the city
of Durham, NC, 50 reserve officers serve a minimum of 16 hours a month and are trained
to the 500-hour mark, exceeding the state’s minimum requirement. Durham’s reserve
officers, who carry an agency provided .45 sidearm, face a daunting academy experience
three nights a week and some Saturdays for seven months.
But, as with full-timers, the training just begins when the Academy commencement
exercises are concluded. The heavily-documented field training officer (FTO) program for
reserve officers are hefty undertakings by themselves and come in at 192 hours for High
Point, 480 hours for Durham, and a whopping 960 hours for Charlotte.
The sweat and hard work appears to be worth it. Durham administrators stated that the
reserves have saved the city a quarter of a million dollars a year. Kale, a busy and
successful private sector businessman, said that Charlotte’s reserves must put in at least
12 hours per month and that 14,811 hours were donated last year on patrol, as well as in
such exotic assignments as the Street Drug Interdiction Unit.
High Point Police Department reservists work patrol, Tac Team, detectives, warrants and
the traffic section, as well as being responsible for the coordination of special events such
as walk-a-thons. Filling in some of the non-traditional gaps are the City of High Point’s
squad of specialized police reserves, such as lawyers and doctors, who bring rare and
much needed skills to the agency.
High Point and Charlotte differ in one aspect. Chief Hoyng eschews the use of reserve
ranks, citing the public’s confusion and inconsistency with the department’s philosophy of
earned merit promotions.
High Point does use reserves to administer the program and do in fact bestow a good
amount of behind the scene responsibility on them staring with unit executive officer R.J.
“Jerry” Culler. Charlotte uses a rank structure, which is visible on the uniform.
Whatever the insignia, reserves in North Carolina have earned their place among the top-
ranked reserves in the nation. They clearly have a solid foundation upon which to build
for the future.
Richard B. Weinblatt, author of the book “Reserve Law Enforcement in the United
States,” is a full-time law enforcement officer in the southwestern U.S. and a regular
contributor to Law and Order.
| For contracting of articles, media commentary, or other matters, contact: richard@policearticles.com |
| policearticles.com home of published articles written by Richard B. Weinblatt |
Located just North of Orlando,
Florida, Richard B. Weinblatt
provides professional article
writing services and expert
commentary for the media on a
variety of criminal justice topics
Florida, Richard B. Weinblatt
provides professional article
writing services and expert
commentary for the media on a
variety of criminal justice topics
| FAST FACT "Reserve Reports" by Richard B. Weinblatt, a regular column in LAW AND ORDER: THE MAGAZINE FOR POLICE MANAGEMENT, ran for a decade (1991-2001). |
| FAST FACT Richard Weinblatt's March-April 1997 SHERIFF MAGAZINE article "Sheriffs Take on Rural Patrol Challenge" featured him on the cover. |
| FAST FACT The 250+ page book "Reserve Law Enforcement in the United States" by Richard B. Weinblatt, was published in 1993 |
This website contains criminal justice articles written by former Police Chief and Criminal Justice Professor/Police Academy Manager Richard B. Weinblatt |