The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

Community Service

Related Photos

  • Garfield County Reserve Deputy Dennis Voth joined the office 10 years ago because he said he wanted to make a difference in the community. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

    Reserve_Deputy_BH.jpg

  • Garfield County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Randolph teaches a class for reserve deputies, who must complete the same classes and training as regular deputies. (Staff Photo by SHAWN YORKS)

    Reserve_Deputies_SY.jpg

Discussion

April 24, 2010

Out on patrol

Reserve deputies provide valuable service

By Cass Rains, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — Undersheriff Jerry Niles isn’t sure when Garfield County Sheriff’s Office began its reserve deputy program, but that’s where he got his start.

“I was a reserve deputy in the 1980s,” Niles said. “We’ve always had some form of reserves with the sheriff’s office.”

He said reserve deputies used to ride with other certified deputies, but in the 1990s the sheriff’s office began providing pool cars for the reserve deputies who would go out on patrol.

“We’ve got about 14 ... right now, with five coming on,” Niles said. “When they’re on duty, once they’ve been fully certified, they have the same authority as a full-time deputy.”

Niles said reserves must complete the same classes and training as regular deputies, undergo a background check and have good moral standards. They must complete a training academy and become Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training certified.

“We have several that assist us on investigations and have several that are on our SMART, or tactical, team,” Niles said. “Their full-time job augments the training they do, and it gives us a different perspective. We can utilize some of their outside training and knowledge.”

Garfield County reserve: ‘We do everything a regular deputy does’

Reserve Deputy Dennis Voth joined 10 years ago because he said he wanted to make a difference in the community.

“It was something I was always interested in,” Voth said. “This was an opportunity where you could have some type of effect on something.”

Voth, who works full time as a manager for Hotsy, an industrial equipment company, said he was introduced to Niles by another reserve and that’s how he got started.

“It’s very, very interesting,” Voth said. “You find out the news before the newspaper does ...”

When Voth took the training academy, it was a year long instead of the eight months it takes now.

“It’s a big demand on your time,” Voth said of the reserve academy.

Although reserve deputies are unpaid, the Reserve Association collects money from reserve deputies being paid for security jobs or events, and those payments go into the reserve fund.

“We’ve purchased four vehicles and have had one donated,” Voth said. “We took it upon ourselves to purchase cars so we’d have something to drive when we went to work.”

Reserve deputies can work as many hours as they want but are required to work at least eight hours a month.

Voth said most reserve deputies put in hundreds of hours a year.

“It’s just an enjoyable experience to do,” he said. “We do everything a regular deputy does.”

He said the reserve deputies are able to help “plug holes” when deputies are unable to work, have other assignments or are undergoing training.

“The reserves plug those holes,” he said. “You can’t schedule things you can’t plan. When you’ve got more people out there you get into more stuff.”

Voth said, “We run traffic, we do reports, we do pretty much everything. We’ve all got jobs, so we’re not able to do a lot.”

Other than the eight-hour a month minimum, Voth said the reserve deputies set their own schedules.

“We work at our own time and place,” he said. “We’re not scheduled. The sheriff’s office doesn’t schedule us. It’s something that allows them to expand — it’s a force multiplier.”

Voth said of the jobs he does for out Garfield County Sheriff’s Office he prefers going on patrol in the county.

“Being out, driving around and waiting for stuff,” he said. “The mission is to augment the power of the sheriff’s office.

“It’s fun because it’s interesting.”

Text Only
Community Service
  • John_Thomas_1_SY.jpg Tri-State sounds good to Thomas

    John Thomas has done about every job there is with Tri-State, he said, starting when he was in fourth grade, as a participant.

    April 24, 2010 2 Photos

  • Jerry Erwin_SY.jpg Erwin helps people through CASA

    The Court Appointed Special Advocates program, CASA, is a nationwide program in which volunteers work independent from either side of a child welfare case to communicate what the child believes is in his or her best interest.

    April 24, 2010 1 Photo

  • Ann_Richie_BH.jpg Hooked on history

    When those portraying the Chautauqua characters talk to the audience as if they were living in the same time period, Ann Ritchie observed what she believes is a great way to teach.

    April 24, 2010 1 Photo

  • Reserve_Deputy_BH.jpg Out on patrol

    Undersheriff Jerry Niles said reserves must complete the same classes and training as regular deputies, undergo a background check and have good moral standards. They must complete a training academy and become Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training certified.

    April 24, 2010 2 Photos

  • KlemmeCelebratingEnid-7.jpg Celebrating a community

    Mike Klemme's “Celebrating Enid” is a planned, organized compilation of assets in Enid and northwest Oklahoma taken over the period of a year.

    April 24, 2010 9 Photos

  • Marshall_Billinslea_BH.jpg Meeting needs in non-traditional way

    “A lot of different programs will teach to search for a higher power. Our focus is obviously on Jesus. I think people by nature are limited. We’re human beings. We’re mortal. But God is unlimited. He can reach us wherever we’re at, whatever we’re going through.” — Marshall Billingslea, pastor of Anew Church in Enid

    April 24, 2010 1 Photo

  • Laroy_Goodpasture.jpg No. 1 priority

    “It’s all for senior citizens.” — Laroy Goodpasture

    April 24, 2010 1 Photo

  • Christianne_Chase_1_SY.jpg On and off the stage

    Christianne Chase's first performance was in 1967 when, as a young girl, her mother took her to auditions for the musical “Tom Sawyer,” and she was cast in the chorus. She was hooked. That production was in the old Gaslight Theatre on 2nd Street.

    April 24, 2010 2 Photos

  • Doug_Swanson_SY.jpg Enid’s piano man has the keys to life: Keep playing

    Doug Swanson plays piano at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church and records music for Waukomis Christian Church’s choir, which also can be heard Sundays.

    April 24, 2010 1 Photo

  • Martie_Olyer_BH.jpg Oyler comes from long line of community ‘servants’

    Martie Oyler, manager of Oklahoma Natural Gas Co., has been a member of Enid Rotary Club more than 10 years and its community service director the past three. During that time she developed an interest in community projects and began writing grants to Rotary International.

    April 24, 2010 1 Photo