Reserves
The Maplewood Police Reserve Unit consists of non-sworn volunteers who make themselves available 24 hours a day year round to assist the police officers and citizens of Maplewood in many capacities. Since 2004 they have donated over 71,366 hours to the city.
These volunteers are an integral part of the Maplewood Police Department, efficiently and effectively augmenting and supporting the department's regular compliment of officers. The Current reserve unit consists of:
- Reserve Commander
- Lieutenants (3)
- Sergeants (6)
- Senior and Junior officers
Many Walks of Life
Maplewood Reserve Officers come from many walks of life. Some are members of the community who wish to give something back. Others are law enforcement students who are looking to gain experience and hands on learning to help them in their future careers.
Reserve officers share and in some cases take on the responsibilities of certain duties, which would normally require the deferment of regular officers from active patrol.
Responsibilities
The responsibilities of reserve officers include:
- Patrolling the city in a squad
- Bike patrol
- Assisting with traffic control at events and at vehicle accidents
- Assisting with emergency situations providing medical assistance if necessary
- Providing security at local events and crime scenes
Reserve officers are also called out for emergencies to help compliment the full-time officers with more assistance.
Patrol Hours
Maplewood Police Reserve officers are required to work at least one eight hour patrol shift per month, however many officers do more than one shift per month. We currently have two reserve squads that we use for patrol. Reserves patrol with two officers to a squad and provide numerous types of services throughout the year. Patrol shifts can be conducted all days of the week with no set times, although we do generally work 7 pm to 3 am most nights.
The patrol hours that our reserve officers perform provides assistance to the regular officers and gives the community another visible presence throughout the city. Patrol operations also gives reserve officers a hands on approach to the patrol function of police officers and gives them an opportunity to experience and learn different aspects of being a police officer such as officer safety, dealing with people, report writing, as well as many other areas which will help prepare those reserve officers who are pursuing careers in law enforcement.
Functions
Some of the functions we provide are:
- General patrol of the city
- Extra/directed patrol in neighborhoods and areas that may be seeing an increase of problems or crimes
- Assisting during traffic safety initiatives (Safe and Sober saturation)
- Transports
- Proactive visits
- Property watches
- Assisting officers on calls and taking some calls for service ourselves
Reserve officers are free to roam all parts of the city during patrol shifts when we are not responding to a call or assisting other officers.
Transports
One of our duties is to provide transports to keep the officers in the city and available to respond to calls. Most of the transports we do are taking people who are under arrest to the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center. We also provide rides to other destinations such as hospitals, Detox, homes, hotels, etc. In the past, we have also had to do longer transports such as meeting a squad from another city in Gaylord, Minnesota who located a missing person from Maplewood.
Patrols
As we are patrolling the city we try to be proactive and make visits to those areas that either have people congregating or are known to be "hot spots" for calls for service. This includes:
- Apartment complexes
- Business complexes
- Nightclubs/bars
- Parks
- Trails
- Etc.
Reserve officers will also conduct property watches at the request of a resident while they are out of town to ensure that the home is secure.
Assisting with Calls
Reserve officers assist regular officers on calls and also respond to some calls on our own. We often assist on traffic stops, traffic accidents, and loud parties. Reserve officers also respond to the following types of calls:
- Dangerous conditions such as stalled vehicles, downed trees, etc.
- Fire calls and medical calls to assist officers and the fire department
- Lock-outs (if there is a child locked in the vehicle)
- Recovered property calls
- Some animal calls
The Maplewood Police Reserve Bike Patrol Unit is made up of dedicated officers who patrol the city via Smith and Wesson Police mountain bikes. The Reserve Unit has four Smith and Wesson Police bikes that have been purchased with grants or by the department. Bike Patrol Officers receive both classroom and practical training in bike patrol operations, crowd control techniques, and apprehension techniques from a bike.
If you see us out and about, please feel free to approach us and chat.
Patrol Areas & Routes
The bicycle unit has been very beneficial in patrolling areas not accessible by police vehicles. These areas include the State trails that run through Maplewood, park/boat launch areas, and the many areas not visible from a patrol vehicle in this city. Our bike patrol officers are encouraged to ride as often as possible and to interact with the community as they do so. This is a positively received community based policing technique which allows for "one on one" contact with our community.
The bike unit is operated on all shifts during most of the months of April through October. The unit educates the public about bike and pedestrian rules/safety, monitors areas for crime and safety concerns, and addresses problems with skateboarders and rollerbladers. The unit is also able to assist with crowd control at community events like the White Bear Avenue Parade, Ramsey County Fair and Fourth of July Celebration.
Bike Rodeos
The bike patrol unit also participates in bike rodeos. Bike rodeos are an event used to help promote bike safety and give kids the skills and abilities to ride their bikes safe. Our bike patrol unit hosts the rodeos for church groups, schools, boy and girl scout troops, and any group that wants one.
Bike rodeos consist of a couple different parts. Reserve Officers start with going over basic safety procedures while riding a bike; these include laws to follow on the road and hand signals. Then, the kids participate in a riding portion. The Reserve Officers set up a course for the kids to ride through that utilize the signals and skills the kid just learned. The Reserve Officers give examples how to ride through the course and then help kids ride through the course successfully.
Maplewood Reserve Officers are relied upon to help from time to time on emergency situations, making the police officers available to respond to other calls within the city. Reserve officers can be called in for to help with issues such as:
- Assisting other agencies
- Large fires
- Missing persons
- Natural disasters
- Securing crime scenes
- Severe weather
Call-outs can last for a few hours only requiring a few reserve officers to assist, others can be large scale requiring numerous reserve officers to assist or shifts to be setup due to time issues. Large scale events sometimes require the use of the Incident Command Structure which is recognized by all emergency responders not just law enforcement.
Large scale events that involve other departments maybe already be utilizing the Ramsey County Command Vehicle, which houses radios and camera systems, and serves as a mobile command center.
There are many different events that Reserve officers assist with both within and outside the city of Maplewood throughout the year. We provide many different services ranging from traffic control, providing security, answering questions, and providing information to the public. These events range from:
- Assisting with Special Olympic Torch Run/Polar Plunge events
- Providing traffic control for graduations and city clean ups at Aldrich Arena and the White Bear Avenue Parade
- Visiting block parties on National Night Out
- Working at the Ramsey County Fair and other city events
We also are requested from time to time to help out other agencies with events. The last few years we have assisted the Ramsey County Sheriff with traffic control during the Fright Farm at the Ramsey County Fairgrounds.