Waynesville’s new police chief, Bob Carter, has implemented a new policy that bars his officers from holding commissions with other police agencies.
However, Carter emphasized that he didn’t want to see his decision misinterpreted as an attack on other agencies or see rumors spread about his intentions.
“Usually we help each other, and that’s the way we work,” Carter said. “I want to get it out there to whoever it might be who is throwing the balls around that it is true, it’s not a rumor.”
While not directed specifically toward the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, the new policy has affected five Waynesville officers who until March held dual commissions as reserve deputies with the sheriff’s department.
“The first three who turned in their commissions were Chief Carter, Maj. (Clarence) Liberty and Cpl. (John) Newcomer,” said Sheriff J.B. King. “Since then I think only two others have turned in their commissions, but I would prefer not to name them.”
That list doesn’t include former Waynesville Police Chief Don McCulloch, who King said still holds a reserve commission with his department.
Carter said he implemented the new policy when he became chief because there’s no need for a Waynesville officer to be commissioned with another department.
“My policy is, effective March 1, Waynesville police officers will not carry commissions with other agencies,” Carter said. “Dual commissions are not needed because we have a mutual aid agreement. That lets us go to other jurisdictions such as St. Robert or to Crocker; all they have to do is let us know they are coming and they can work a case here too.”
The policy applies to all eight full-time Waynesville officers as well as the eight Waynesville reservists.
Reservists are unpaid or part-time personnel who hold state certification as a police officer and donate their time to serve an agency. For police agencies around Fort Leonard Wood, those reservists are often former full-time police officers who have accepted higher pay as gate guards or who work in the Military Police School. In other cases, military police anticipating retirement have sought civilian agency commissions and some civilian instructors working at the Military Police School have off-post civilian commissions.
Carter said his new policy won’t affect the Waynesville reservists who work full-time at Fort Leonard Wood, since neither the Military Police School nor the private company handling gate security issue commissions.
It shouldn’t affect the sheriff’s department, either, Carter said.
“The sheriff talked to me about this; I told him it would not affect our departments working together,” Carter said. “I don’t know how he handles his people. I think he’s got a pretty big reserve list, but this is the way I want to handle mine.”
King wasn’t so sure.
“(Reserve commissioning) offers my authority if they are outside the jurisdictional areas, and in the absence of a mutual aid agreement, that is always helpful,” King said.
King said his agency doesn’t have any mutual aid agreement with any of Pulaski County’s five cities and his department’s only mutual-aid agreements are with Laclede County and Camden County.
“Basically the cities are under my jurisdiction; if we have to go into a city, we don’t need an agreement with them,” King said. “My policy is if a problem occurs in a city it is that police chief’s problem, but if he requests assistance, we will do our best to assist.”
That means any sheriff’s deputy or a city police officer who holds a reserve deputy commission can work anywhere in Pulaski County including its five cities, but city police who aren’t reserve deputies don’t have the same level of authority to work in the unincorporated areas of Pulaski County.
“I have a number of deputies who hold county commissions in several counties, and I have officers in several surrounding counties who hold commissions with us so they can work drug cases in multiple counties,” King said. “The city of Waynesville is in Pulaski County so we don’t need any commission to go into their city, but Iberia is a whole different deal.”
Not every city police officer in Pulaski County held a reserve commission with the sheriff’s department, but until last month, at least some police from each of the county’s five cities were reserve deputies. Richland, Crocker, St. Robert and Dixon still have officers who are reserve deputies, King said.
Carter said his officers in Waynesville won’t be handicapped by the new policy, even in areas without a mutual aid agreement, since anyone who has completed the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training program to become POST-certified may make arrests throughout the state for the most serious crimes.
“You don’t need two different commissions to effect a felony arrest anywhere in Missouri,” Carter said.
“Some people want to wear two uniforms and show it,” Carter said. “It’s guns and glory, but we’ve got in-place mutual aid agreements approved by the attorneys that allow you to go into other jurisdictions if they need your help, and any properly certified officer in the state of Missouri can make a felony arrest regardless of jurisdiction.”