10/08/2012
Captain Fraser and Reserve Deputy Lalezary were invited to attend the 2012 Reserve Police Officers Association Conference. Founded in 1996, the Reserve Police Officers Association is a nonprofit charitable and educational organization dedicated to the support of law enforcement, with an emphasis on the role of reserve and auxiliary police programs and officers. Attendees came from various parts of the United States as well as the Bahamas and United Kingdom.
During the conference, numerous agencies (primarily from the east coast) gave presentations ranging in subject areas from traffic safety issues to the nature of their respective reserve or auxiliary programs. The presentations and the informal conversations that ensued often times touched on the differences between the reserve programs on the east coast as compared to those from California. The California POST program, and specifically the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department program, were referred to as the "gold standard" of reserve programs. Retired NYPD Captain James F. Albrecht conducted a poignant presentation where he discussed, among other things, NYPD's auxiliary officer program. During his presentation, he spoke about a 2007 incident where two unarmed NYPD auxiliary officers came across an armed robbery suspect who shot and killed them. The deaths of the officers resulted in the agency issuing ballistic vests to their auxiliaries. However, the agency still does not permit their auxiliaries to carry firearms. Aside from not allowing their reserves to carry firearms, many east coast programs require insignia on uniforms that indicate that the officer is a reserve or auxiliary. Some programs do not allow a reserve officer to be first on scene to an emergent call and require them to stage pending the arrival of a full time officer. Overall, reserve officers from these agencies are given authority that is quite limited when compared to that of their full time counterparts.
Later in the program, Reserve Deputy Lalezary received recognition for his role in the arrest of the Los Angeles arsonist. He then gave a presentation about the LASD reserve program where he played a short video prepared by Reserve Force Bureau highlighting the LASD reserve program. He spoke about the various capacities in which reserve deputies serve (i.e. Search and Rescue, Detective Bureau, etc.), the nature of the LASD reserve academy, and the three reserve levels as well as their functions within the LASD program.
The experience was an eye-opening one where both Captain Fraser and Reserve Deputy Lalezary had the opportunity to learn much about various reserve programs and meet auxiliary officers from different parts of the country and world.
Contact Information: Lieutenant Newman - 310-855-8850,
|
WHD Captain Fraser & Deputy Lalezary
WHD Captain Fraser & Deputy Lalezary
|