5 volunteers graduate to local law enforcement agencies

The Port Orchard Police Department and Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office have each increased their ranks by several new volunteers, who graduated from the West Sound Regional Reserve Academy July 16.

“They met the stringent requirements during the application and selection process,” says Deputy Scott Wilson, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff's office and police department received a combined total of 45 applications, and a total of five passed both the application process and the academy.

The sheriff’s office received “approximately 40” applications for the academy, but only three passed the background review to attended the academy.

“Our background checks are the most stringent in the state,” said Wilson. “There was nothing of question in their crimnal or personal history.”

All three who passed the background check also passed the academy.

The Port Orchard Police Department, by contrast, received five applications.

“Two (applicants) didn’t pass the oral board one didn’t pass the academy,” said Sergeant Jason Glantz, with the Port Orchard Police Department.

The academy took more than 230 hours of classroom and field training.

Classes included:

• criminal law
• criminal procedures
• firearms instruction and qualification
• defensive tactics
• emergency vehicle operations

Classes met two nights each week, for four hours each night, plus eight hours each Saturday, since last March in locations throughout the West Sound area.

Now that the volunteers have completed their training, they will perform a variety of duties, including:

• criminal patrol
• prisoner transportation
• security checks
• traffic control
• crime scene security
• specialized events, such as the Kitsap County Fair and Stampede

“I can’t praise our volunteers enough,” said Sheriff Steve Boyer. “During the past four years, sheriff’s reserve deputies have contributed more than 6,000 man hours toward the completion of routine, but essential, sheriff’s office duties.”

Their role has become increasingly important, Boyer said, “as fiscal resources become increasingly more stringent.”

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