Reserve Officers

Illinois Police Accreditation Coalition

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In San Diego, Commissioners approved an “Official Interpretation” to clarify the issue of performance evaluation for reserve officers. The following text will be included with the existing commentary for both standards 16.3.1 “Agency reserve officer program” and 35.1.2 “Annual performance evaluation for employees.”

Commission Interpretation: The Commission acknowledges that some agencies utilize reserve officers who do not meet the definition of an “employee.” For example, some agencies utilize volunteer reserve officers and the absence of wages or salaries exclude them from the definition. For the purpose of this Standards Manual, all reserve officers shall be considered “employees” when applying standards dealing with performance evaluations. Procedures and forms used for evaluating the performance of the agency’s reserve officers may be the same as those used for full-time sworn officers, or they may differ significantly based on distinctions made in the role, scope of authority, or responsibilities of the reserve officer.

Another issue that needs clarification is compliance documentation. Assessors verify standards compliance in part by ensuring various performance activities with time lines for administrative or audit review, reports, analysis, evaluation, or inspection have been completed. In some instances, agencies state that they did not have any activity in some areas to perform the required activity so compliance proofs are limited or non-existent. Often this activity is in the areas of use of force, employee grievances, pursuits, program evaluations, or audits. In other instances, the agency may state the process was routinely completed but no record was maintained.

These instances require that some documentation be created at the time of the activity. This can be as simple as a dated and signed memo indicating the review task was addressed, but there was little or no activity for that item in the current time frame.

The effort on the part of the agency is minimal, agency tracking of their accreditation responsibilities is enhanced, agency actions can be considered later for adjustment, assessors can make a quick determination of compliance, and agency creditability is enhanced.