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August 5, 2008

Patrolling part-time

Reserve officer ready for ‘SECOND JOB’

John Walker

DUNCAN — Law enforcement officials come from many walks of life and backgrounds.

This is especially true for those who wear the uniform part-time as reserve officers because most of them have full-time jobs as well.

Duncan Police Lt. Chris Ray said that a reserve officer’s main responsibility is to back up full-time officers.

“Many ride along with a full-time officer,” Ray said.

“Some have their own vehicle.”

When an officer is called to a situation, instead of taking two vehicles off the road, only one needs to be sent if a reserve officer is in a vehicle with a full-time officer, Ray said.

A little less than a year ago, one Duncan man started his journey into the Duncan Police Department Reserves.

Calvin Kirkland moved to Duncan with his three children and wife about four years ago from Texas. His grandmother wanted him to take over a glazing plant in Lawton.

“I never would have thought I would move to Oklahoma,” Kirkland said. “But I haven’t looked back since.”

As the family looked at their living opportunities around southwest Oklahoma, they felt Duncan to be the ideal place to raise a family.

“Duncan is a smaller town and similar to where I was raised in Texas,” Kirkland said.

“Besides, I don’t mind the drive back and forth from Lawton.”

The daily commute, however, has largely prevented Kirkland from becoming involved in the community. Becoming a reserve officer will hopefully change that, he said.

Kirkland has always been passionate about law enforcement, as evidenced by his decision at one time to pursue a college degree in criminal justice, but he was hesitant about joining the reserves.

That feeling, however, did not last long once his friend and fellow reserve officer in training, Mike Williams, told Kirkland about the program and people here.

“I realized the people here have similar hobbies, likes and dislikes as me,” Kirkland said.

“It’s cool to meet people who are like me and also be able to help out in the community.”

The process to become a reserve officer is a long trek, he said. First, he filled out an application. Then he was interviewed by a panel of Duncan officers.

If an applicant passes the interview, the Duncan Police Department then sends the applicant out for a psychological evaluation.

Only after the candidate passes the evaluation does the department send him or her to the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) to be Oklahoma certified.

“Duncan takes extra care of their reserves and treats us like we’re one of their own,” Kirkland said.

“The coolest thing is knowing there’s a group of people at the Police Department who put their own time into this and into me because they want to help me.”

He is taking the CLEET classes twice a week for four-plus hours at a time. Some Saturdays are required, as well.

“I’m learning things I’ve never known before,” he said. “Every night, we learn something new.”

Kirkland expects classes to end sometime in September.

“Then I believe we’ll be able to patrol with a uniformed officer,” he said. “But there’s still a ton of street knowledge to learn.”

As he thinks about serving the community in the role as a reserve officer, Kirkland feels that it is an honor to be able to help full-time officers in their daily duties.

“They are the ones who do the work,” he said. “I’m just there to assist them.”

Though this is a dream come true for Kirkland, it has not come without sacrifice to his family. But he said that it seems that he and his family use their time much better than when he wasn’t gone so much.

“We know there isn’t much time together now,” he said.

He has a son, Coby, who is at the University of Oklahoma, and two daughters: Emily, 9, and Erin, 5. His wife, Angela, is a dental assistant.

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