HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980 05-06 Maplewood reserve cops want guns DISPATCH ca
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CcsReservists want guns
Continued from Page 17 "It's a safety issue and it(hav- The training and other costs al-
makes a decision on whether to ing a gun) gives you a psycholog- ready had been budgeted by the
elevate their jobs to those of ical advantage," said Mottaz, City Council,he said.
part-time police officers,he said. who served 22 years as a reser- Hagen said officers were con-
The resrvists, who wear uni- vist. "An officer has a better cerned mainly about profession-
forms,rode with officers at least chance of not being endangered al standards and the use of "un-
twice for if he's wearing a firearm." trained people." He also noted
twice a month, primarily
training,but they also backed up The 1979 state law says a that in other parts of the state,some city officials have replaced
regular officers on burglary and reservist may not carry weapons full-time officers with part-tim-
domestic calls, Mottaz said. The without being classified as a full- ers.
reserve officers drew their guns time or part-time officer and LAST MONTH, the City Coun-
when entering burglary scenes taking the same tests and train-
and on other occasions, he said. cil voted to let Schaller's deci-
The reserves also worked at the ing as full-time officers. sion stand,but directed city staff
Ramsey County and Minnesota THE EXPENSE of testing members to explore the need for
State fairs.
and training, new statutory re- part-time police officers.
strictions on police officers' use
of deadly force and the possibili- In St. Paul, police officials de-
ty that other city officials could cided early this year "we would
be held liable for reservists' ac- not go with part-time officers,"
tions also prompted the decision said Sgt. Richard Iffert, who
by Police Chief Richard directs the reserve unit. Some
Schaller, Hagen said. The city select reservists had carried
also has had difficulty schedu- guns and they were required to
ling sufficient shooting practice give them up, Iffert said. As a
for the reservists,he said. result, 16 of 120 reservists quit,
But Mottaz said the real rea- he said.
son for the decision apparently "We lost quite a few good off i-
was pressure from police off i- cers, but it was felt that in the
cers who feared their jobs could long range, we would be better
be jeopardized by part-timers. off without them,"he said.