Cops corner

As I write this Cop’s Corner it is raining exceptionally hard and shows little sign of ending.

While Western Montana is having some flooding problems, especially on Missoula’s south side along the Clark Fork River, our Eastern side of the divide continues to receive on a almost daily basis large scale devastating and destructive water damage events. No matter where you live if you are seriously affected by flooding waters our hearts and thoughts go out to you.

School will be out when this column is published and there will be joy in the hearts of many a youth. In time the gnashing of teeth and frustration of some of our youth and more likely their parents as summer progresses and the “Dog Days of Summer” drag on bringing boredom to their children.

Speaking of school again, we salute the bus drivers and crossing guards for delivering another year free from injury of any school attendee as they worked to safely deliver Montana’s most cherished groups to and from school daily.

This month’s column will explore our Reserve Officer program. Presently we have two officers. Our senior reserve officer Jodi O’Sullivan has been with us for a decade. She is a treasure. She is always available to work the big events such as parades, our 3-on-3 basketball tournament, the cherry festival and many other gatherings such as school athletic events. Jodi is also a Polson Volunteer Firefighter and has served with Polson Ambulance service in the past. Talk about actions speaking louder than words in giving back to the community.

Our second reserve is Chris Dentler. He joined us several years ago. Like Jodi he is extremely dedicated in that when the call goes out Chris quickly reports for duty. Chris assists us with most all events and between he and Jodi they provide that extra measure of safety to the community during the most hectic of times.

Prior to being a reserve the applicant must receive and pass 120 hours of reserve training through the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Deputy training academy. We are fortunate that former sheriff’s and the present Sheriff Jay Doyle allow our applicants to attend. The training is excellent and demanding.

Each reserve receives a $200 dollar clothing allowance yearly which barely buys one uniform (pants and shirt). We provide an all season jacket plus a protective vest, portable radio and furnish a firearm if they request.

A new reserve will initially invest at least $500 of their own monies in the first year to purchase additional clothing and or equipment. You can readily see that a reserve officer’s commitment includes a lot of their own time and money and rarely do they receive compensation for hours served.

We generally receive applications once a year. We keep the number of police department reserves to only two or three so as to provide quality usage of these valuable members of our department’s team.

Lots of big doings will occur in Polson in July and August and we hope to see you there. Our Chamber of Commerce and Polson Business Association work hard to deliver quality events throughout the year. We in turn pledge to deliver quality service to you our residents and visitors.

So until next time when we share additional information to you whom we serve, take care and be safe.