Dallas Reserve Officers Without Off-Duty Carry?

[AndrewTx]

I stumbled upon this article from 2003. I'm not sure if the source is credible or not, but I'll assume it is in order to ask my question.

http://www.dallasarena.com/u031208launius.htm

Dallas Police Department reserve officers are armed volunteers with full powers of arrest while on duty. I don't know if they're primarily tasked with traffic operations and the like, but as far as I know they perform all of the duties of regular patrol officers.

According to the article, these officers don't have off-duty carry rights. So firstly, is this at all common among armed reserve positions with full arrest powers?

Second, the article suggests as the reason for the policy that the city/police department fears poorly-handled incidents involving off-duty reservists. How does the liability and how do the rights of reserve officers carrying with a CHL differ from those with off-duty carrying permission?

These guys are out on the street entrusted with full police powers and expected to put themselves in danger yet they're not trusted to carry off-duty? :rolleyes:

[121Traffic]

When I was a reserve, we weren't trusted either...not that we didn't have the support of command staff, etc., but rather city council and the city attorney. We were, however, fully supported in carrying with a civilian CCW. Only catch was we could NOT identify ourselves as peace officers, nor were our use of force justifications as loose. (i.e. no shooting to stop a violent felon with a deadly weapon who, in order to escape, may pose an immediate death/serious bodily injury threat to the public at large, etc.) Basically, we were, by LAW and policy, to follow the adage that ALL LEOs should live by anyways, and that is for the immediate defense of you or others. Policy abiding or not, no off-duty, plainclothes LEO should be running around playing Lethal Weapon in his off time.

[Ranger__101]

Most Reserve Officers do not have off duty carry. Their LEO Authority is only granted when on duty and under the supervision of a full time licensed officer.

(Granted this may vary from state to state)

[Bearcat06]

(Granted this may vary from state to state)

In Missouri, if you are employed as a Reserve (or part-time) Police Officer, you are able to carry on and off duty without being supervised as long as you have your badge and commission card/ID on your person. And you are covered under HR 218 as long as you follow your Departmental procedures.

[AndrewTx]

I guess if they have concealed carry licenses as private citizens the practical differences aren't very big anyway, but as a symbolic gesture it surprised me a little bit.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

[P01IC3M4N]

i think that's been changed. i know the dallas council was working to approve reserves for off-duty carry a year or two ago and it was supposed to pass. reserves in texas hold the same commission as regular officers so it is strictly up to the agency whether they allow reserves to carry off-duty or not. fort worth used to be only on-duty carry, but they also now allow reserves to carry off-duty.