By Jon Huang
On June 5, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office graduated its first EPSO Posse class, a trained volunteer group that works throughout the community alongside sworn deputies. The term “posse” comes from the Latin term posse comitatus, meaning “the power of the county.”
Three months in, the posse has worked at county fairs, U.S. Air Force Academy football games and the Colorado Springs Western Street Breakfast, to name a few.
Hayley Suppes, volunteer coordinator for the EPSO , said the posse was part of Sheriff Joe Roybal’s efforts to increase public involvement and expand community collaboration.
The current class of 26 is required to volunteer at least 80 hours a year. Many volunteers have other paid careers, including military, law enforcement and health care. Some have even transitioned to permanent roles within the EPSO .
Members are required to be 21 or older but do not need a law enforcement background. They must pass a background check, drug screening and a physical. They will also be required to participate in a panel interview with current members and law enforcement members. The first cohort of volunteers received six weeks of training that included two to three weekly sessions on topics including reality based training, CPR certification, tactical driving, traffic control and radio dispatch.
All posse members wear a uniform that includes a maroon dress shirt with their name, black jeans, a Bailey hat, and cowboy or tactical boots — a nod to the department’s Western heritage. They don’t have powers of arrest and don’t bear firearms, but they do carry pepper spray.
Volunteers have assisted in roles in the courthouse, jail, crowd and accident control, crime scene security and regional 911 communication centers. Suppes said specific roles are ever-evolving as EPSO seeks new ways to incorporate an individual’s professional experiences and interests with department needs.
Out of the current posse pool, only two are female. The added benefit of male socialization has not been lost on Suppes,
“The wives call me all the time,” she said, as she recalled many phone conversations from women who tell her they have husbands at home who “need to volunteer.”
Working alongside deputies
Prior to the posse program, the EPSO also relied on its volunteer reserve deputies, but over the years, the unpaid role and the state’s hourly training requirements for reserve academies have made it increasingly difficult to recruit and maintain the volunteers, resulting in the reserve pool dwindling from 40 volunteers to 19.
One of those reserve deputies is 10-year veteran John Zachman. He’s seen the benefits of integrating posse members into the daily functions of the office. Posse members receive the same department memos and press releases as paid employees, and in the current media climate and demand for increased law enforcement transparency, they have played a much-needed public relations role.
“They’re in the community … doing a lot of the same things that we do and they’re able to connect and give information about what the sheriff is doing … so they’re a good front face for the office,” he said.
Zachman admitted that at times over the years, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office public image hasn’t always been the greatest; and, like many organizations, it has been a challenge to avoid being siloed from the people they daily serve. For him, having a group of local citizens willing to publicly represent the Sheriff’s office speaks volumes.
“It’s a huge statement to have 26 people put in the hours and just be out there for free,” he said.
“There’s still some level of authority that they carry when you see them. It could be dangerous, but they’re willing to go out there and say, ‘Hey we believe in our community. We believe in what the sheriff is doing and we’re ready to put our money where our mouth is and go out there and do it.’”
Suppes agreed with Zachman’s assessment.
“Sometimes in protecting their personal life space, law enforcement officers are reluctant to engage with the community, sometimes on a very personal level, whereas the posse is kind of the opposite of that,” Suppes said. “They’re very open arms … . A lot of them are members of civic organizations in town like rotary or the Pikes Peak club.
In addition to working with the public, posse members have assisted with an ever-growing deputy workload, which includes many tasks that do not require an armed officer. With the county’s large area and growing population, volunteers have fielded calls for neighborhood watch groups, car impoundments and traffic control, all of which can easily take several hours of a deputy’s time. Alleviating some of this workload while increasing community engagement has been beneficial for all.
During larger public events, posse members have served as eyewitnesses, participated in lost children searches, attended medical calls and helped with crowd control.
“They are trained to step back and kind of observe what’s going on,” Suppes said. “How can they be the best help? How do they mobilize in those circumstances to be an assistant?”
While being present on scene comes with inherent risks, volunteers are taught not to put their lives in danger.
“Their job is to be eyes at the scene, but if anything, they’re very well trained to step away and how to respond to support the offices from that distance,” she said.
As far as the public interacting with posse members, Suppes encourages them to ask any questions that might come to mind.
“We want them to feel like they are approachable.”
The posse has volunteers from Black Forest and with the upcoming substation being built in Falcon, Suppes hopes to recruit more citizens to participate in ongoing efforts in their own backyard. In an era where social media allows unprecedented access to unfiltered information, EPSO ’s efforts to increase their physical presence hopes to not only dispel false rumors that swirl in today’s online landscape, but build trust through public participation.
“I think the community engagement piece was one of the biggest visions that Sheriff Roybal had. It was having people who could … get down there and work the crowd.”
For additional questions on the program, contact Hayley Suppes at Hayleysuppes2@elpasoco.com or 719-520-7216.
