Criminal justice professor sheds light on volunteer policing in the US

UTAR Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research (IPSR) organised a webinar titled "Volunteer Policing in the United States (US)" on 6 November 2020 via Microsoft Teams. The invited speaker for the webinar was UTAR International Collaborative Partner (ICP) Prof Dr Ross Wolf, the professor of Criminal Justice and Interim Provost of University of Central Florida, USA and also the reserve chief deputy while moderating the webinar was Dr Cheah Phaik Kin, a lecturer from Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS).

Prof Wolf making a comparison of the population in Florida and Malaysia

Prof Wolf started his talk by first explaining the size and population of Florida and comparing it to Malaysia. He said, “Florida has approximately 22 million residents and Malaysia has approximately 33 million, so we are a little less in size compared to Malaysia and also less in population.”

He then continued to explain how to distinguish Florida’s police department officers and sheriff officers, “Florida police department officers wear blue uniforms and they usually have a “shield” shaped badge, while the sheriff and deputy sheriff wear green uniforms while carrying a five-pointed star badge.”

More than 90% of law enforcement agencies in the US are made up of local police and sheriff departments

While highlighting the national data or training for volunteer policing in the USA, Prof Wolf said, “Approximately 35% of all police departments and 44% of all sheriff‘s offices in the United States (US) utilise part-time reserve and auxiliary officers. There are estimated to be 60,000 to 80,000 reserve or auxiliary officers in the states. The reserve or auxiliary officers with limited average powers need to go through average 100-350 hours of training while reserves with full police powers an average of 750-900 hours of standard training.”

He then showed participants the two types of volunteering police in the USA, namely full police powers and limited police powers. “Fully-certified volunteer law enforcement officers have full police powers and they have the same training as full-time police; while the states delineate volunteer officers without full training as both “auxiliary” or “reserve officers”, they are volunteers with lower levels of training with an average of 100-350 hours of training,” he said.

Prof Wolf explaining the two types of volunteering police in the USA

There are approximately 2,989 volunteer fully certified officers and 720 auxiliary certified officers with limited powers in Florida

The first thing that volunteer polices do is event policing (82%), they work at festivals, fairs and sports events, etc

Based on Prof Wolf’s research study, 33% of volunteer police have experience in full-time law enforcement; they are full-time law enforcement officers with an average length of service for approximately 13 years. 

Reserve officers with special training can be also used in non-patrol assignments including criminal investigations, background investigations, mounted patrol, aviation and etc 

Nearing the end of the one-hour talk, Prof Wolf explained the three main reasons why people chose to become volunteer police, “Firstly, the individual wants to learn about policing as their career and they hope to get their foot in the door of policing or other criminal justice professions. Secondly, the police officers have other opportunities or decided to further their education because they wanted to stay active in policing and serve the community. Lastly, many retired American police become volunteers to continue to serve their communities and give back to their society; they also act as a “bridge” between the community and the police.” 

The sharing then saw an active interaction between the speaker and the participants. The talk was concluded with an extensive yet insightful Q&A session.

Prof Wolf won the US daily point of light award and American Police Hall of Fame “J. Edgar Hoover Memorial Gold Medal for Distinguished Public Service” Award (2018)