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12 VIII. Police Reserve Summary <br />2013 Annual Report · Police Department · St. Anthony Village, Minnesota <br />VIII. Police Reserve Summary <br />Prepared by Officer Tressa Sunde <br />What is a Police Reserve Officer? My definition of a Police Reserve Officer is a civilian <br />who has a calling to give of themselves for the benefit of others. Someone who is willing <br />to volunteer their time, sometimes hundreds of hours, to help the communities in which <br />they live and work. Someone who is willing to spend hours in a squad car, day and <br />night assisting sworn officers with activities such as; handling parking complaints, animal <br />complaints, patrolling the neighborhoods and businesses, parks and schools. Someone <br />who is willing to help with stranded motorists and transport prisoners so the sworn <br />officers can remain in the cities they are assigned to serve and protect. Reserve Police <br />Officers are a selfless group of people who are willing to do things others are not willing <br />to do. For that very reason, I commend all who do this ‘job.’ <br />It has been 5 full years since I took over as the Reserve Coordinator and I love it as much <br />now as I did the first day I started! Maybe it is because I started my own career with St <br />Anthony as a Reserve Officer and I feel a very personal attachment to the program. <br />This year was like others in many ways, with turnover always being at the top of the list. <br />This year we had three of our Reserves resign because they were hired as sworn police <br />officers!! That makes me so happy! All have said their experiences with St Anthony was <br />a leading factor in the hiring process. That makes me very proud! Ryan Googins was hired <br />by Dakota County as a Deputy, Tyler Wakasugi was hired by New Brighton Department of <br />Public Safety and Jesse Zajac was hired by Metro Transit Police. All three gave hundreds <br />of hours to the Reserve program and quite honestly will be missed tremendously. It was <br />especially hard to lose Jesse Zajac as he had been a Reserve for almost 13 years!! The <br />departments who hired them are very fortunate. Congratulations to them all. <br />We had four officers graduate from the <br />Hennepin County Reserve School. Jody <br />Steffen and John Nordin graduated in <br />May and Anja Eichinger and Nick Hoffman <br />graduated in November. All said it was a <br />great experience and were very thankful <br />for the opportunity to attend. They <br />represented us well. <br />This year we hired four new Reserve Officers and, as I have said before, this is no easy task! Finding the <br />right fit for our ‘family’ of officers can be very time consuming and frustrating at times. But once again, we <br />succeeded. In August we hired Anja Eichinger, Nick Hoffman, Patrick O’Keefe and Anthony Brama. The <br />hiring came as a result of losing Ryan Googins and Carolyn Quick. Carolyn leaves behind a legacy…she <br />single-handedly (at times it seemed) put in the majority of hours for several years. Carolyn resigned after <br />almost 13 years with the St Anthony Reserve Program. She will be greatly missed!