Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler plans to bring a new policing pilot program before the City Council to deploy non-sworn and unarmed "officers" who would be "engaged in the community in non-emergency calls, so that's things like property crimes, break-ins," he said.
Police assistants respond to calls such as to file reports for car accidents, thefts, burglaries or criminal damage that do not involve a suspect at a scene or another potentially dangerous situation.
Through the Pledge to Patrol program – also known as the Associate Community Officer Program or A-COP – more than two dozen high school graduates will be working part-time for the Los Angeles Police Department as a way to train the next generation of police officers.
A suspect allegedly shot his wife and an off-duty Arizona police officer, both of whom are Casa Grande Police Department employees, then took his own life.
Law enforcement agencies are finding a blended approach of utilizing civilians as CSIs provides the best of both worlds.
The community services officer was filling out paperwork on a stolen vehicle as he waited for a tow truck around 2:15 p.m. when someone began shooting at him, police said.
I couldn't help but note how the absence of supervisorial intervention had played out for others elsewhere; how their failure to stem some cancerous problem exacted ever greater tolls later. What might have culminated with a written reprimand or a punitive day off instead ended up being the irrevocable loss of careers, families, and freedoms. A few employees ended up taking their lives.