Bishop Police Chief Rick Standridge has realized filling openings in the department isn’t as easy as it may look. After all, who wouldn’t want to live in the Eastern Sierra?
Living here isn’t the issue, Standridge explained at last week’s Bishop City Council meeting. What is? There’s competition from larger agencies for a shrinking pool of experienced law enforcement personnel. And then there’s housing and the cost of what little is currently available on the East Side.
Standridge’s solution is to grow his own, starting with his request to Council for a Community Service Officer position. The job is a non-sworn position and, once filled, the CSO would go through Peace Officer’s Standards and Training (POST). In a nutshell: the CSO, a non-sworn position, would free-up sworn officers for more pressing tasks.
The Department’s example of duties include the following:
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Patrols the city, assisting motorists or citizens, vehicle and city ordinance citations, parking enforcement
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Takes reports helps with collection of evidentiary material, makes referrals to community resources
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Investigates assigned cases
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Books, searches and photographs prisoners
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Testifies in court on chain of evidence matters
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Performs central reception duties
The request and related costs will be considered during the next budget cycle.
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One would think that with the number of officers leaving the anti-police politics of the large cities you would be fighting off applicants. I have spent some time dealing with police officers when I was working and found that most of the new hires from out of town really want to live here but seem to have the same reasons to leave. The biggest reason some leave is the wife and family like the peacefulness but with that there is nothing for them to do, it’s a different world than living in the city. The other reason is the officer wants more action than they get here. It does take a special type of person to live and make a living here. I wish you all the luck in the world filling positions.
The LAPD uses various categories of citizen Volunteers for most of these functions. Citizen Patrol uses specially marked cars to patrol neighborhoods, watch homes of citizens on vacation, and enforce parking restrictions. Special surveillance volunteer groups are trained to assist with stake-outs and perimeters around shopping malls. Detective Assistant Volunteers support the detectives with case preparation. Retired Attorneys working as Specialist Volunteers are assisting with financial and physical elder abuse crimes. There are more categories, as well. This frees up sworn officers for attention to crime prevention and arrests, and it does so at no salary costs to the City. There must be local citizens in the Bishop area who would volunteer and who could meet the background investigation procedure.
Yay for parking control! I am so tired of trailers taking up street parking for months if not years and vehicles that have flat tires and expired registration littering the streets.
I shouldn’t get too excited though, I’ve heard this song before…
Mammoth Lakes PD has always had CSOs. This is a very good move by the Chief. The CSO will be able to free up Officers for Patrol, Investigations and other duties that only sworn officers can do.