Reserve deputies receive certification

Reserve Deputies Brad Waage, Matt Olson, and T.R. Sullivan recently completed training to meet the requirements to be certified law enforcement officers in South Dakota. These deputies are now sworn officers with full authority to make arrests. They work for the Clay County Sheriff's Office on a volunteer basis to assist the full time deputies on patrol, crime scene control, prisoner transports, serving arrest warrants and civil process and other duties as necessary.

The Clay County Sheriff's Reserve Unit is comprised of four reserve deputies. In addition to those recently achieving certification, Dave Thiesse is the fourth reserve deputy, meeting state certification requirements due to his previous employment and certification as a law enforcement officer.

The state requirements for reserve officers to be certified are that each officer must complete 100 hours training in an approved course. To maintain that certification, they must work a minimum of 96 hours per year and no more than 40 hours per month.

The hours worked must be on a voluntary basis and under supervision of a full time sworn officer. The reserve deputies are not permitted to receive compensation.

These Clay County sheriff's reserve deputies already had several years experience with the Clay County Sheriff's Office but during the past year, took on the additional course work necessary to achieve the higher standard of law enforcement certification.

"I am very proud of and grateful for these deputies to have made the extra effort to achieve this status," Sheriff Andy Howe said. "They worked very hard to meet these requirements while maintaining their full time occupations and assisting the sheriff and deputies whenever needed."