18 May 2009
Volunteers Help Community by Providing Policing Services
Police Reserve Corps in Washington attracts a wide variety of talent
Washington — Taking many of the same risks that police officers do but without the pay, volunteers with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington provide thousands of hours of service to their community.
Established in November 1948, the Police Reserve Corps currently has more than 100 people who volunteer at least 16 hours a month, the department’s minimum volunteer commitment. According to Richard Southby, the Reserve Corps’ commanding officer, most volunteers offer much more of their time. By his estimate, volunteers contribute about 3,000 hours a month to the department.
“There are people in the Reserve Corps from a very large variety of backgrounds,” Southby said. “We utilize the skills we have in the Reserve Corps by assigning people to special branches, like investigative services, where there’s a very highly qualified group of people who work on financial crimes and really provide amazing expertise for the department which it wouldn’t have otherwise. And we are developing a homeland security branch to supplement the department’s activities in that area.”
Southby, born in Australia, joined the Metropolitan Police Reserve Corps about 20 years ago, when he was chairman of the Department of Health Services Management and Policy at George Washington University. He learned about the program when he talked with the police officers who came to his office to investigate his report of stolen typewriters.
The police department is “very good at setting training around people’s work schedule,” Southby said. And the volunteer work, he said, is “a very different kind of activity from the university, and I think it’s a very interesting way to contribute to the community, if you’re interested in law enforcement. … I’ve enjoyed it.”
Southby, who is now retired from teaching, said his volunteer activities also helped enrich the curriculum of the university. “One of the things as a result of my involvement with the Reserve Corps was I was instrumental in setting up the Police Science Program in our College of Professional Studies at George Washington University,” he said. The program, he explained, allows law enforcement officers to finish their undergraduate degrees. It has since been expanded to offer a master’s degree as well.
TOUGH REQUIREMENTS
Volunteers for the Police Reserve Corps must pass a written examination, undergo a comprehensive background check and successfully complete a medical and psychological evaluation. In training, they learn about laws of arrest, search and seizure, criminal law, traffic regulations, community policing, ethics and integrity. Some volunteers receive firearms training, enabling them to carry weapons during their police work.
Volunteers are not relegated to desk jobs, Southby said. “Most of them want to be out on patrol,” he said. Much of the volunteers’ patrolling happens on weekends, when there is high demand for police services in areas with lots of restaurants, nightclubs and general nighttime activity, he said. Although volunteers sometimes do find themselves in harm’s way, only one has been killed while on duty with the Reserve Corps. That volunteer, Joseph Pozell, was hit by a car while directing traffic in the busy Georgetown neighborhood. The square near where he was killed is being renamed in Pozell’s honor, Southby said.
Police Reserve Corps volunteers, Southby said, help improve police-civilian relations. “I think it brings an understanding to the career side of the broader aspect of the community from people who want to be involved with the police,” he said. “They’re there [working at the department] because they want to be part-time law enforcement officers, so they’re not competing, they’re not hostile.”
“It’s a very supportive environment,” Southby said. “Most people I’ve worked with over the last 20 years have been very supportive and very appreciative of what we do.”
