San Jose, California has joined other communities by having non-sworn, gun-less officers to handle minor incidents, thus freeing sworn officers to better handle priority calls.
NEW KIND OF COP IN SAN JOSE: ‘SERVICE OFFICERS’
By Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
August 20, 2014
That next call to San Jose police for help could be answered not by the men and women in blue, but a community service officer in light-blue threads instead.
On Thursday, 25 community service officer recruits will graduate from a five-week academy and will begin a three-week field training program. They will be paired up with sworn officers who will help train them to respond to lower-priority calls for service such as non-injury traffic collisions, vehicle theft, property crimes and vandalism.
“This will allow sworn SJPD officers to focus on responding to high priority emergency calls for service and have more time for more proactive enforcement,” the department said in a statement.
The CSOs will wear light blue shirts with shoulder patches reading “San Jose Police Community Service Officer” and dark blue pants. Instead of guns, they will be armed with pepper spray and police radios that they can use to summon officers. They will drive around in all-white Ford vehicles with amber light bars.
Chief Larry Esquivel said, “The CSO program is designed to allow the men and women of the San Jose Police Department to better serve the residents of San Jose by reaching out to them with a non-enforcement approach, strengthening the ties between the city and its residents. I’m sure that our Community Service Officers will be a valuable addition to the San Jose Police Department and to the city.”
Such programs aren’t new to the Bay Area. Many departments employ civilian community service officers in some capacity. But the program comes at a critical time for the San Jose force, which has seen its members leaving in large numbers because of budget cuts and political squabbles.
No comments:
Post a Comment