BOARDMAN POLICE Retired officers' skills used in reserve program

The reserve program is a way for the police department to retain its expertise.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Township trustees created a reserve police officer program to make use of police department retirees' skills.
The program, proposed by police Chief Jeffrey L. Patterson and approved Monday, will help retain the expertise and experience of veteran officers after those officers retire.
"Over the next several years, the Boardman Police Department will suffer a significant loss of law enforcement expertise through the retirement of many veteran and ranking officers," Patterson said.
"It is no exaggeration to say that we will be losing much of our institutional memory of crime and other community problems in the township, as well as our familiarity with known criminal suspects and our experience in major investigations and trials."
Duties: Through the reserve program, retired officers with 25 or more years of experience will be accessible to the department for consultation, to perform crime prevention services and assist with traffic and crowd control, Patterson explained.
The first volunteer reserve officer, Dale Chambers, who retired from the police department in 1997, was sworn in Monday night.
Two other veteran officers are set to retire in October and may also volunteer their services, Patterson said. One of those is Lt. Robert Rupp, who joined the Boardman police department in 1969 and has investigated almost every major case in the last 30 years.
Over the years, Patterson said, the police department has gotten younger and younger. Having experienced officers available to these younger officers is an invaluable resource, he noted.
Cost factor: "This program is narrowly focused on retaining the expertise and experience of our retiring officers," Patterson said. "We simply don't have the resources for the extensive background investigations and mandatory training that would be required for new personnel."
Because participation is limited to officers who are awarded full retirement, Patterson said he expects membership to be limited to about 12.