Recently more and more police agencies across the country have been recruiting civilians to perform the duties of uniformed police officers. Due to budgetary constraints, brought on by the economy, these local police agencies have been forced to cut spending in some unique ways. One of these ways has been to hire civilians to perform the work of some uniformed policemen such as interviewing victims of property-related offenses including burglary, fraud and vehicle theft. By hiring every day citizens to perform some of these duties, cash strapped police agencies are able to save tens of thousands of dollars in salaries and training costs by employing these citizens.
In places like San Francisco, CA, Mesa, AZ, and Durham, NC, police agencies have been able save anywhere from $15 to $40k per civilian that they hire. While some local citizens might not like the idea of having potentially unqualified individuals assisting in the investigation of various property crimes, these police departments are able to save a ton of money from their budget and allocate it to various departments that focus on more violent crimes.
The citizens who perform these police tasks are not all paid either. Many of the citizens taking part in this initiative programs are volunteers looking for a way to give back to their community. These volunteers offer the best resource for their local police department since no money has to come out of the budget in order to investigate property crimes.
Until the economy gets back to the level it once was at more companies and organizations are going to need to think creatively when it comes to solving their budget crises. It appears that some police agencies around the country have started doing just that by hiring these citizens at a fraction of the cost of a uniformed police officer, or even allowing some to simply volunteer, to perform rather routine tasks that anyone can perform with proper training.
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