LINCOLN — Did the police officer who pulled you over for
speeding — or who is investigating a missing child — graduate from a 14-week
state police school, or was it someone with little or no training?
Two law enforcement officials said that question needs to be
asked in Nebraska after two reserve officers, in Bennington and Valley, were
suspended for working more hours than allowed by state law, given their
training level.
Such reserve officers are required to undergo 160 hours of
training, which can be done mostly over the Internet, before they can strap on
a gun and a badge.
That compares with 608 hours over 14 weeks required to
become a certified full- or part-time police officer or sheriff's deputy in
Nebraska.
La Vista Police Chief Bob Lausten, who heads the Nebraska
Police Standards Advisory Council, said too many agencies are improperly using
reserve officers who are limited to working 100 hours a year.
Reserve Officers Gregory Scheer and Andrew Ramaeker racked
up more than six times the state limit. Both have filed appeals.
“I know it's hard to get qualified officers in some towns,
but do you really want Floyd the barber coming to your house at 3 o'clock in
the morning, or an officer who's been trained?” said Lausten, referring to a
character on the old TV series “The Andy Griffith Show.”
The Legislature took an important step this spring in
increasing law enforcement professionalism by mandating, for the first time,
that officers across the state undergo at least 20 hours of continuing
education classes every year to remain certified.
Now lawmakers need to address the overuse of less-trained
reserve officers and the practice of allowing new hires to work a year before
undergoing any training, said Lausten and Bill Muldoon, director of the
Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center.
“It doesn't say much for a profession if someone can go out
and work completely untrained — armed and driving a police cruiser, sometimes
at high speed,” Muldoon said. “It's a bad practice. I don't think many agencies
do it, but the statutes permit it.”
After years of trying, officials such as Lausten and Muldoon
successfully persuaded the Legislature to mandate continuing education for law
enforcement officers.
Though larger agencies such as the Omaha, Lincoln and La
Vista Police Departments and the Nebraska State Patrol already require more
than 20 hours in annual training, the new law will mean that in even the
smallest agencies, part-time deputies and reserve officers will undergo
mandatory training.
Nebraska was one of only eight states that didn't mandate
such training, Lausten said. It never made sense to him that “less-complex
occupations” such as barbers, tattoo parlor operators and real estate
salespeople had continuing education requirements, yet law enforcement did not,
he said.
Jeremy Kinsey, vice president of the Nebraska Fraternal
Order of Police and a La Vista police officer, said today's officer isn't just
a peacekeeper.
“He or she is a crime scene investigator, digital
photographer, collector of scientific evidence and knowledgeable in computer
crimes and electronic evidence, just to name a few,” Kinsey said. “To maintain
proficiency in many areas, today's cop has to be skilled.”
On April 30, Muldoon ordered the suspensions of Scheer and
Ramaeker, the two reserve officers, after an audit revealed they had been
scheduled for well more than the 100-hour-a-year limit in each of the past
three years.
There are about 75 reserve officers across Nebraska. Smaller
agencies often use them because they can be hired for lower wages and without
the time and expense of the 14-week state police academy.
Muldoon and Lausten said it's time to look at restricting
the duties of reserves, given their lower level of training.
Currently, reserve officers are supposed to work under the
supervision of a certified officer. That requirement was intended to mean
riding with a certified officer, but some agencies have interpreted it to mean
only that a supervisor is available by phone.
Muldoon said a reserve officer he suspended last year was
often the only deputy on duty in Antelope County, where he worked.
He said California prohibits lesser-trained reserves from
carrying guns or driving cruisers. The more training obtained, the more duties
they are allowed.
“It's something we need to look at,” Lausten said.
Another matter that worries Lausten and Muldoon is allowing
new hires to work a year before undergoing training.
Though that helps smaller agencies try out a prospective
officer and cover hard-to-fill spots, such trainees present liability problems
for communities. They are giving a gun and arrest powers to an untrained
officer, the two said.
O'Neill Police Chief Matt Otte said he uses five reserve
officers to supplement his seven certified officers.
“They help fill in for us,” particularly on nights and
weekends, Otte said.
They are required to ride along with a certified officer, he
said, to fully comply with state law.
“It's been a successful program here,” he said of the
reserves.
Meeting the annual training requirements for reserve and
part-time officers might be a challenge, he said, because they often hold other
jobs.
Also potentially challenging to rural police departments,
Otte said, would be a requirement that officers must be fully certified before
hiring. It's easier to find certified officers near Omaha than in places such
as O'Neill.
Bennington Mayor Mary Johnson, a former Omaha police officer,
said she has expressed concerns for years about overusing reserve officers, but
the City Council there stripped her of the power to remove them.
In 2009, Muldoon warned the Bennington police chief about
the practice of overutilizing reserves. He said the state initially tries to
work with local agencies. But this year, after receiving a second complaint
about practices in Bennington and Valley, he took action.
Johnson said she would support clarifying state laws
concerning the use of reserve officers. But there's an even simpler solution in
her town of 1,500.
“My chief could hire certified officers,” she said. “That's
all he has to do.”