Shelby County Sheriff's Reserve
Information submitted by
Reserve Captain Annette L. Cotton
Reprinted from "Reserve Law OFFICER" (Vol. X, No. 1)

Since 1965, the Shelby County Reserves have the same training requirements as full-time Deputies.  They have the same authority and responsibility as Regulars, plus they wear identical uniforms and badges as Regulars do while on duty.

Each Reserve Deputy is paid $1.00 per year in order to qualify for all benefits as an employee.  For the cost of approximately $300 per year, the Sheriff's Office and the community receive over $1 million in donated man-hours.

Under the leadership of Sheriff Alton Gilless and head of the Reserves Chief Joe Gurley, the Shelby County Reserves must have 540 of POST basic academy training plus 4 additional hours each year thereafter of on-going, in-service training.  The Reserves serve in the following Department Divisions:  Patrol, Narcotics, Detectives, Fugitive, Civil, Training, Traffic, DUI, Motor Escorts, Community Policing, and Search & Rescue.  The Reserve Unit supports up to 350 Reserves.  To keep each new Reserve training class at a count of at least 55 recruits, over 200 qualified applications have to be kept on file.

The Shelby County Reserves are long-time, NRLO Members.  They come from all areas of business - from office employees to construction workers and from security guards to doctors.  Individual's monthly hours deviate; however, each Reserve serves 24 hours in assigned divisions.

In addition to the Reserve Deputies, there are also over 100 non-commissioned Emergency Services personnel that also support the Sheriff's Department.  With the combined efforts of the Reserves and Emergency Services, an annual total of $2.5 million has been known to be donated to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

NATIONAL RESERVE LAW OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 6505    SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78209
(210) 805-8917     FAX: (210) 804-2463