Dear Council:
Your letter hits the nail on the head when it comes to illustrating the difference between RLEO programs across the country when compared to New York.
Any meaningful change needs to be made at the State legislative level. However the current political climate in New York strongly favors public employee unions who are strongly opposed to any efforts to organize volunteers to do the job of police officers who generally enjoy generous compensation, overtime, benefits and pensions that are calculated on the officer's 3 highest paid years. Employing volunteers in a law enforcement capacity is seen as a threat to overtime which in turn reduces a career police officer's pension. In New York, police officers enjoy a 20 and out pension meaning an officer who came on the force when he was 21 years old can retire on a full police pension at 41, and continue to receive that pension while he continues to work in a 2nd career (and if the retired officer returns to public sector employment - he'll receive a 2nd public employee pension on top of his police pension). There is enormous political pressure on our State lawmakers because of the massive number of public sector employees and unions in New York (a voting bloc of approximately 1.3 million votes in a state with 18 million population).The most widespread utilization of volunteer law enforcement are the auxiliary police who were formed under NY Civil Defense Law statutes written in the early 1950's. The largest organization is the auxiliary police force under the NYPD. However, auxiliary police do not have any powers or authority above that of an ordinary citizen. Only during a period of enemy attack or disaster can the auxiliary police be used to direct traffic and not much else. However, this doesn't necessarily stop auxiliary police from acting in a manner that may infer power/authority, nor does it absolve them from any statutory liability protections that peace and police officers enjoy. A few APO's have found this out the hard way.
Historically, legislative efforts to aid the auxiliary police have failed in committee, and the same bills are reintroduced year after year only to continue to die in committee.
There are a few bright spots. Some jurisdictions 'employ' peace officers known as "special patrolmen" who have actual peace officer power (not police officers as they are limited to their jurisdiction and when on-duty), and their limits are generally defined by their employing municipality notwithstanding statutory limits set by State law. One sizable county in New York did just this in the late 1990's when they disbanded the civil defense auxiliary police and left the towns to decide whether or not to reorganize under NY Town Law which has a provision for "special patrolmen". I was fortunate to be an officer in one of those towns.
The next major issue is training. New York mandates a minimum of 10 (yes, ten) hours of training for part time peace officers which most auxiliary police officers are considered. Most departments have greater training requirements, but even in a best case scenario, that training is just a small fraction of what a full-time police officer in New York is required to undergo.
Next you have recruiting. There are relatively few barriers to employment as a peace officer in New York. In fact private security guards are given more scrutiny under State law. Most departments do conduct background investigations, but the intensity and thoroughness of these investigations vary from agency to agency. New York does not mandate the level of background investigations for peace officers.
Finally, New York lacks any uniform standards for peace officers regardless of their classification (there's over 75 types of peace officers in NY - including auxiliary police). The State leaves it up to the employing agency or municipality to determine recruiting and training standards that go beyond what the State requires.
Unfortunately, it's been this way in NY for nearly 60 years with little change since then. Any major reform is unlikely - and even the 9/11 tragedy right here in NY did nothing to improve the auxiliary police.
Regards,
Lester Wilson
Former Chief of Special Police for the Town of Parma (14 years)
