Aurora's reserve police force is returning after an 18-year absence.
The Aurora City Council voted 8-2 to approve the second reading of the ordinance during its regular meeting Monday. City Council members Crystal Murrillo and Alison Coombs were the dissenting votes.
Aurora Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo said the reserve force meets the growing needs of the city.
"I believe that when we're done, we're going to have a model program for the rest of the country to follow," Acevedo said. "And it's going to be a great opportunity for our cadet program that we're just about to begin to even add opportunities for those young people to become reserve officers."
The reserve police officers will be unpaid and voluntary, and won't be considered members of the full-time police force. Only certain people will be authorized to be appointed to the force by the Police Chief.
This includes current city employees, a person with the Tadic Medic Program, person participating in the Aurora Police Officer Cadet Program and in good standing, a former city employee who retired in good standing, and a person who lives in Aurora with at least five years law enforcement experience. Acevedo says the reserve officers will go through the same hiring process and training as full-time officers.
"We're going to want them to certify with our academy staff, including qualifying with the firearms, knowing our policies and procedures," Acevedo said. "So there will be training that's required by the state and by POST. And then, we will have additional training and certification with our own organization for anyone that would come and serve in our department."
Murrillo, who also voted against the ordinance's first reading, reaffirmed her reservations. She said there's still a lot of mistrust with the police among her constituents in Ward 1. She referenced the death of Elijah McClain in her statement.
"We can't forget Elijah McClain. We can't forget what's happened," Murrillo said. "And while I'm hopeful under the consent decree that we will be in a much better place for it with these structural and cultural shifts within the department, a few years does not to me create enough time for that to truly take place. And so, I can't in good faith support this type of effort though with some of the changes."
The city shut down the reserve police force in 2005 due to dwindling interest and a city code clean-up. City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky sponsored the ordinance to address the shortage of police officers.
