AURORA, Colo. — The Aurora City Council voted Monday night to reinstate its reserve police force.
Aurora had a reserve officer program until the early 2000s. But after interest in the program dropped to nearly zero, the police department got rid of it, according to city officials. The city also removed a section of code that authorized a reserve police force.
City council's vote paved the way for the return of the volunteer-based force.
Aurora
Aurora City Council votes 9-1 to advance reserve police force proposal
Aurora Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo believes the return of the reserve police force will shine a bright light on the police department.
“I just think it will help build and strengthen the trust,” Acevedo told Denver7.
The move comes as the city and its police department work to regain trust following several high-profile incidents, most notably the death of Elijah McClain in 2019.
“This is about community. This is about making a difference. And this is about bringing people on board that really want to give something back to the city we call Aurora,” said Acevedo.
The reserve police force will be made up of unpaid volunteers. Acevedo said participants must live in the city of Aurora and will include medics, current and former city employees and former law enforcement officers.
All volunteers will undergo a vetting process and six weeks of training, according to the interim police chief.
"Their work history, their employment history, their disciplinary history, their credit history, in terms of meeting the state standards,” Acevedo said. “Then you'll have additional training with our department, additional certifications with some of our more critical skills.”
Acevedo said the reserve police force will be used to free up traditional police officers.
"They're going to go out and do things like when we have parades, do traffic management, things of that nature so we can free up officers to be patrolling the neighborhoods,” said Acevedo.
Acevedo stressed that there will be a zero-tolerance policy, saying reserve officers won't last long in the program if they join for the wrong reasons.
Aurora
Aurora may bring back reserve police officers
The hope is the reserve police force will help improve the department's recruitment numbers. According to Acevedo, the Aurora Police Department is in need of more than 100 officers. He said he has been authorized to bring on 35 reserve officers.
“This is an avenue to bring people closer to us. And I think we'll start seeing our recruitment go through the roof,” said Acevedo.
Before the city council's vote Monday, Denver7 talked to a community activist who said the city should wait and receive more community input on the decision, given the city's history.
“I mean, this is insanity and mind-boggling to me,” said Candice Bailey. “There has been no community engagement, and trust is the number one issue we have had in the city of Aurora with APD. Our community does not trust APD.”
Acevedo hopes to have the program up and running in the next eight to 12 months. He said several people have already expressed interest in volunteering.
