When law enforcement needs additional manpower, Durango Police and the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office turn to their reserves for backup.
“It’s a way I can give back,” said 12-year reserve officer Jim Wotkyns. Though he deals in real estate by day as the co-founder of The Wells Group, Wotkyns logged more than 40 hours as a reserve officer for Durango Police last year, assisting with foot patrols for community events and providing backup for such things as domestic violence calls and traffic crashes.
Wotkyns often carries a radio with him, and if he hears a call needing backup, he responds.
“As long as I’m under the direct supervision of a peace officer, and I have contacted them by telephone or radio, I can do any law enforcement job they want me to do,” Wotkyns said.
The reserve pool is small – Durango Police has three reserve officers, and the Sheriff’s Office has 11 reserve deputies and four untrained volunteers.
Like full-time officers and deputies, reserves are required to attain Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training certification, which entails 600-plus hours of training at the reserve’s expense.
“Reserve officers are also required to attend department-mandated yearly training, the same as certified police officers,” Durango Police Lt. Ray Shupe wrote in an email. “This yearly training winds up being about 60 hours of training in diminishing skills such as firearms, arrest control and driving.”
State law requiring the yearly training for full-time law enforcers and reserves took effect last year.
“Certified deputies are held to the same standards and policies that govern full-time deputies,” said Bobbie Fender, who oversees LPCSO’s reserve program. “The pool for available reserve deputies is small due to the high standards they are held to and the time and cost of becoming post-certified.”
Rob McLaughlin, a local senior account executive, has been on call for the Sheriff’s Office for 20 years. He responds about twice a month to help with patrol or work as a ski deputy at Purgatory.
The time and cost of training, particularly for those with other full-time jobs, deters some from the reserve program, he said. Even 20 years ago, when McLaughlin completed training, the academy took a year’s worth of investment and additional months to receive clearance to get in the field.
“There’s a lot more happening in this area than people realize or want to realize, and we could use a few more guys willing to pay the nickel, get the academy training and join us,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin trained with Wotkyns in the mid-90s, then went through a regular academy with Sheriff Sean Smith, so he has the skill set of a full-time deputy.
“I call myself the oldest rookie there,” he said. “Even though I’ve been there 20 years, there’s a lot I don’t know.”
McLaughlin was on call for the devastating Missionary Ridge fire in 2002, and for many crimes that have hit the community hardest. He assisted with search and rescue efforts on the Dylan Redwine case. And he was asked to help control the crime scene when Silverton resident Jessica McFarland was found dead in her home in 2014, which resulted in Silverton’s first manslaughter trial in more than 30 years.
“I don’t think you can ever become desensitized by those situations,” McLaughlin said. “On a lot of calls, I tend to know the suspect or the reporting party, and the thing you’re most concerned about is doing the right thing and not making a mistake. You don’t have time to be concerned for your own personal safety. You are, but as long as you follow your training and work as a team, hopefully, everyone gets to go home.”
Under state law, reserves are not permitted to drive marked units, but they can don a reserve patch and badge, firearm, Taser and baton. They can also make arrests under the direct supervision of a regular officer, and the department assumes liability for their actions.
McLaughlin says he hasn’t had to use his gun, but the policing environment has become more dangerous in La Plata County in his years of experience.
“It’s becoming less and less safe. I’ve had my weapon out more times in the last year than I have ever before in the 20 years prior combined,” McLaughlin said. “With the financial stress going on and now that marijuana is legal – and I don’t have a strong opinion about that – it’s bringing a different element in. We’re having more suicides, more self-medicating than ever before. It’s more strain on the men and women in law enforcement.”
Reserves are especially in demand for events such as Snowdown, which spreads law enforcement thin, primarily with alcohol-related mishaps. They do receive occasional pay when money is budgeted for a large event or emergency, but reserves say they do it because they support the public safety community and enjoy the frontline view of what law enforcement faces every day.
“From my perspective, even in our small town, it’s amazing what dangers on a day-to-day basis that any law enforcement in Southwest Colorado confronts,” Wotkyns said. “It’s staggering. I appreciate what they do. I have had an opportunity to have an inside look.”
jpace@durangoherald.com
Want to be a reserve?
Contact Durango Police Department Lt. Ray Shupe at ray.shupe@durangogov.org or La Plata County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Bobbie Fender at bobbie.fender@co.laplata.co.us.
