Los Angeles, CA- 2,100 police departments across the country have volunteer police working in some capacity.

The new budget for Los Angeles would cut $100 million from the city's police department. Officials hope to save the money by granting less overtime. And one way to do that is through the use of volunteers.

The Los Angeles Police Department already has more than 700 unpaid workers in its Reserve Corps. These volunteers save the city about $5 million each year. But some in the legal profession have concerns.

For anyone interested in becoming a reserve officer, the first step is the orientation meeting.

Lt. Craig Herron runs LAPD's reserve unit. At a recent gathering, he surveys the room and asks how many want to join the reserves in order to become full-time officers. A few raise their hands.

"The rest of you I assume always wanted to be a cop but you found an opportunity to have fame and fortune elsewhere and said, 'You know what, I can still be a reserve officer — and still do my full-time job,' " Herron says.

According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, more than 2,100 police departments nationwide have volunteer programs. And while training and duties vary widely, the use of volunteers in criminal investigations can raise legal and safety concerns.

Stan Goldman, a law professor, says that while many of the volunteers might do good work and provide valuable input, he has some concerns "if you bring somebody in who rides along and actually gets involved in criminal circumstances involving crime."

Goldman, who teaches at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, says the police volunteers "may have been trained well and may have other experiences in life — but they're still only doing it a couple days a month."


Link:
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/19/136436405/in-tight-times-l-a-relies-on-volunteer-police