The Council for Law Enforcement Reserves provides a national focal point and forum for Reserve Law Enforcement Officers and serves as the national proponent for reserve law enforcement.
RLEOs represent a fragmented, under-served market for representation and services. According to the Council's 2011 national census of RLEOs, there are more than 86,000 reserve officers in the United States, serving in many of our nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies (LEAs).
Law Enforcement Reserve Programs (LERPs) represent a new policy area that fits federal and local government agendas, priorities and requirements. The ability to maintain traditional, conventional models for providing government services will be challenged in this new era of constrained funding.
As the military has proven, reserve forces provide a cost-effective “force multiplier” that allows jurisdictions to create and maintain surge capabilities for event support, critical incidents and other contingencies while maintaining a smaller in-service capability for normal, day-to-day operations. Reserve programs also allow jurisdictions to have additional manpower without incurring overhead fringe and long term (pension) liabilities that are inherent to FTEs. RLEOs are very cost effective.
Also, by their very nature, reserve programs typically attract individuals from a broad range of educational and occupational backgrounds and this translates into a qualified, proven pool from which to recruit FTE talent and from which to gain skills and expertise not otherwise found in the typical LEO community. For example, law enforcement reserves can include doctors and other medical professionals, lawyers, communications engineers, civil engineers, software and systems experts, geologists and environmental scientists, executives, financial professionals, construction expertise as well as licensed master craftsmen in a variety of technical areas.
The Council for Law Enforcement Reserves exists to promote and improve professionalism and the Reserve Law Enforcement Officer brotherhood by providing useful resources and relationships for and among sworn law enforcement reserve personnel and programs.
CLER™ does this by providing both personnel and agencies with professional accreditation. Additionally, CLER™ provides current and objective information, develops useful statistics, resources, advocacy and informed expertise to better educate its members and their agencies, leadership, and policy makers about the law enforcement reserve profession, reserve programs, professional development, the related benefits to agencies and their jurisdictions.
Accreditation is provided at three levels, each recognizing professional ability, training, experience, and achievement. Baseline requirements are:
Master Police Officers MPO 10+ years of law enforcement experience, with significant training
Journeyman POs JPO 5+ years of law enforcement experience, and solo-patrol qualified
Professional POs PPO sworn law enforcement officers assigned to law enforcement agencies
Through the Manual for Law Enforcement Reserves (the MLER) CLER™ provides relevant policies and best practices, model language, as well as pertinent LERP management, administrative, operational and legal processes and procedures. The MLER provides LERPs and their home agencies with a valuable management tool, as well as a self-assessment tool for evaluating LERP capabilities and growth potential. CLER complements this process with LERP accreditation. Once accredited, agencies can compare their status and program with other peer group LERPs and agencies.
CLER™, through the social networking capabilities provided at ReserveCop.Com™, also provides a Reserve Law Enforcement Officers with a dedicated professional forum and services with the intent and design to enable and promote professionalism among this important national constituency.
