The Collin County Sheriff's Office Reserve Unit was formed in 1975 with 4 deputies. Since inception, the Reserve Unit has given over 240,000 man-hours of service to the citizens of Collin County without any cost to the taxpayers. In perspective, 17,000 hours roughly equals the work of 8 full-time budgeted deputies.

The reserve deputies volunteer their time to enforce the laws and serve the people of Collin County while holding down other full-time jobs. Reserve deputies are fully licensed peace officers. We strive to make the only difference in reserve deputies and regular deputies is that reserve deputies are not paid. Reserve deputies function as a support unit for the Sheriff's Office providing manpower for the field operations division. Other activities include security for special events throughout the county as requested by the Sheriff. Qualified applicants who are either licensed Peace Officers or willing to become licensed at thier owen expense are sought continually.

Basic requirements for membership in the unit:

• Must live or work in Collin County or have a very good reason to volunteer in Collin County
• TCLEOSE licensed as a basic peace officer
• have a high school diploma or GED
  
• have a good driving record
• have no criminal record

There are two levels of Reserve Deputy, Senior and non-Senior. A non-Senior is a Deputy in training and must work with a Senior Reserve or Full-Time Deputy. A Senior Reserve is considered to be the same as a Full-Time Deputy, except pay.
Reserve deputies must commit to working a minimum of 16 hours per month. Senior deputies commit to 24 hours per month. Some even contribute up to 100 hours per month.

Extensive testing before an individual is admitted to the group includes a physical agility test, physical, psychological, drug, polygraph, and background investigation. After a prospective applicant is approved for membership by the reserve unit leaders and Field Operations Major, Sheriff Box has the final decision.

The basic peace officer course is available through the Collin County Community College Law Enforcement Academy (http://ftp.ccccd.edu/lawenforcement/infosheet.htm). It is required that a Peace Officer license be obtained before joining the Reserve Unit. Individuals in the academy may make application to the unit before graduation but will not be granted admittance until a license is obtained.

The reasons why reserve deputies donate their time and effort to the citizens of Collin County are varied. Most say that they want to contribute something back to the community in which they live or work. Others feel that the satisfaction and tremendous sense of accomplishment they realize from doing even the smallest job to help someone in the county far outweighs any compensation.

The Sheriff's Office and the citizens of Collin County are very fortunate to have such dedicated, civic-minded and professional officers whose only goal is to help the Sheriff's Office achieve a high quality of community service through law enforcement.

Anyone interested in joining the Reserve Unit should email Major Chuck Ruckel at the Collin County Sheriff's Office or call Metro 972-424-4797 or Local 972-547-5100.