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Community Corner

On Duty at DJJD: Northfield Police Reserve Officers Patrolling Streets

The bulk of the city's 27-member police reserve force will be out in force during DJJD helping keep the peace and lending a helping hand.

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“We’re the eyes and the ears of the police department.”

That’s how Northfield Police Reserve Capt. Steven Moses describes his group’s mission earlier this week. That’s when reserve officers were focusing their senses on their most visible assignment of the summer: .

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This weekend, the bulk of the 27-member volunteer police reserve force will be out in the midst of Northfield’s crowded streets to provide security and, when needed, a helping hand to the thousands of visitors in town.

It is a task reserve officers do well, said  Sgt. Mark Murphy, who oversees the reserve program.

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“With all the different activities and number of people in town this weekend, it takes a lot of good people to fulfill the services people demand,” Murphy said. “The reserves really do a good job. They provide the city with a lot of people hours, and I can’t say enough good things about them.”

On a weekend such as this, when three or four times the typical number of people are in Northfield, reserve officers handle duties such as crowd control and traffic direction so that the city’s 21 sworn officers can concentrate on more serious matters. Reserves also carry DJJD event schedules and city maps so to point momentarily confused festival-goers in the right direction.

Those are duties police reserve officers like Moses and Sgt. Josh Sterling said they are trained to—and desire to—take off the plates of sworn officers.

“I enjoy being downtown and mingling with the crowds,” said Sterling. “Knowing I am here and helping people in need gives me a great feeling.”

Reserve officers will work shifts of between six and 12 hours this weekend. Or, as Moses said, “Whenever we are needed.”

While the city’s sworn police officers and reserves have a common goal—maintaining the peace and safety of Northfield residents—there are differences between the two groups of law enforcers. Among them are that reserves do not carry service weapons, they are not state-licensed, they cannot make arrests in the same fashion as sworn officers, and they cannot make traffic stops.

Reserves regularly can be seen assisting sworn officers at Northfield’s public events. Among their busiest times of year are DJJD and the .

While they do make a living in other professions, Moses and Sterling said volunteering in the reserves is important, both personally and as a way to be involved in their community.

Moses, who works as a lab technician at , got involved in police reserves in 1986 when he was living in St. Paul. He joined the Northfield reserves four years ago.

And now, as a captain, he is the city’s highest ranking reserve officer.

Moses said working in medicine and in police reserves is similar because in both activities he helps people by looking after their health and well-being.

“It lots of fun to help people,” he said. “And, I like to get to know people on the street. I like to play a small part in making this thing work.”

Also in his fourth year as a Northfield reserve officer, Sterling is a full-time correctional officer at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault. He studied law enforcement in college.

Sterling said he supports community policing, which calls for officers to be more visible in public and to partner more in their communities. Reserve officers in Northfield follow that strategy.

“Being a reserve reminds me that I am in the right profession: law enforcement,” he said.

Murphy said Northfield’s reserve officers save the city thousands of dollars each year in law enforcement costs and, at the same time, provides residents with an added layer of security.

“They are a very valuable part of this department.”

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