Reserve deputies volunteer time to help county

Danielle Switalski

Part two of the three part series on the Sheriff’s Office: The Reserve Deputies

Sanders County can sleep a little more comfortably at night with the number of reserve deputies signed on to help out the Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office has recently added two new Reserve Deputies to the team, bringing the total to six.  According to Sheriff Gene Arnold, the reserve deputies are trained to help meet the law enforcement needs of the county and to fulfill those duties in case a regular officer is out sick, on vacation or needs help.  Reserve Deputies also help with transports of prisoners to other locations, which allows regular deputies to remain in the county on patrol doing investigations, etc. 

Arnold said the Reserve Deputies are a way to provide the county with more law enforcement for less money.  The Reserve Deputies are all volunteers who pay for some of their own uniforms, firearms and patrol equipment.  They have to go through an 88 hour training period and are required to work two shifts a month to hold their reserve status.

Sanders County Narcotics Detective, Doug Dryden oversees the reserve officer program and coordinates their training, utilizing deputies, local police officers and himself to do the actual training. Much of the reserve officer training has been conducted at the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office.

Training is not an easy feat for the volunteer reserves and consists of classes on domestic violence, sexual assault, death and homicide investigation, traffic stops, interviewing, arrests and other law enforcement duties.  They are also required to take a 33-hour firearms course and get pepper sprayed, by far one of the biggest challenges.

The Valley Press had a chance to speak with two of the new reserve deputies, Rob Largent and Chuck Standeford who are currently going through some more law enforcement training.  Also part of the reserve deputies are Troy Fryxell, Seth Beech, Jim Matthew and Brian Josephson.

Largent, who owns his own heating and cooling company, said he was asked to join the reserves three years ago, but was too busy back then to dedicate some of his time to the Reserves, however he was able to find the time this year.

“I got comfortable with the community and decided to give something back,” said Largent.

The most memorable experience of his training was being pepper sprayed, which Largent said was a lot worse than he thought it would be.  However, despite the difficulty of being pepper sprayed, Largent said he was really satisfied with how the training went and all of the results that came out of it.

Although Largent still works full time for his own business, he fits the Reserve duty in when he can.

“I’m just happy I was able to get past the reserve training and give back to the community,” said Largent.

Standeford, who works as a youth pastor, decided to dedicate his time as a Reserve Deputy, because he wanted to make a difference in the community.  He and his wife moved to Plains with their three children, therefore, joining the Reserves was also a way for Standeford to keep involved with the community and know what is going on around him and his family.

Standeford, who has put in a couple of shifts a month for the past few months said he has overseen some transports of prisoners to places such as Missoula, and has done work patrolling.  Although, he enjoys the prisoner transports, he prefers being out on patrols and getting around the community.

“On any given night you can have a mellow night or have a ton of calls and the night flies by, it’s a diverse job, which makes it interesting,” said Standeford.

As far as training goes, Standeford not only enjoyed the firearms training, but is enjoying getting more familiar with Montana law.  Being an Oregon native, Standeford said it is nice to be getting acquainted with Montana law as there are “interesting things there,” which he never knew before.

Similar to Largent, Standeford agreed that being pepper sprayed was the least enjoyable experience of the training program.

“I didn’t enjoy that at all, a little worse than I had anticipated but it was a really good experience because it showed me what it’s going to feel like if I do that to someone else and I want to avoid having that done to me at all costs,” said Standeford.

The six Reserve Deputies on the Sheriff’s team have helped law enforcement in Sanders County to not be spread so thin.