SPECIAL RESERVES: Volunteer unit is a 'force multiplier' for Carson City Sheriff's Office

John Miller knew he wanted to be like his old man.

His father was a 30-year police veteran who finished his career in Sparks, helping to keep that community safe. Miller, a new father himself, wants to give his daughter that same sense of safety.

So a year and a half ago, Miller joined the Carson City Sheriff's Office uniformed reserves, where he rose through the ranks to sergeant while the force experienced its highest numbers in more than five years, according to a recently released report.

According to the report, 43 reserve deputies served in 2011 - almost three times the size in 2008 and making up 25 percent of the department's total uniformed manpower. Although the number has dropped to about 33, it is still more than double 2008's total.

"It's just part of me," Miller said. "I was raised that you give back to the community, and you do that through law enforcement."

Along the way, he was laid off from his full-time job as a mobile repairman for Sears and, just two months ago, became a father to his daughter, April. But he stuck with the all-volunteer reserve force, commuting from his home in Sparks, sometimes five days a week.

It paid off in the form a being selected to the Peace Officer's Standards and Training academy in Carson City, where he now lives most of the week before commuting home on the weekends. He is set to graduate in May.

"It's definitely hard to miss out on those first parts of (my daughter's) life," Miller said. But it's also comforting to know that his time in the POST barracks means a more secure community and secure future for her, he said.

He isn't guaranteed a job upon graduation, but he will be able to say he already has the certification necessary to be a paid patrolman in the state and, he hopes, a leg up when police officer jobs start opening up in the area.

Reserve deputies in Carson City contribute an "incredible" amount to the sheriff's office, directly and indirectly, said Sheriff Ken Furlong. In an address to the State of the City earlier this month, he noted that the raw man-hours contributed by the volunteers saves his department $500,000 a year.

But when you add in how the reservists free up paid officers to patrol the streets by handling warrant bookings and prisoner transportation, the savings probably creep toward the $1.5 million mark. By keeping paid officers on the street, he called his reserves a "force multiplier."

"The reserves kick in for so much in this community that it is just incredible," Furlong said.

They helped secure crime scenes when two bodies were found in the Carson River at the beginning of the year and at the September IHOP shooting. They also patrol events, saving on overtime and allowing for more security, he said.

For Cmdr. Tom Crawford, the reservist who heads the reserve unit, the city wouldn't be the same without such a large reserve force.

"It frees up patrol staff to respond to calls and do what they need to do," Crawford said. "I honestly believe the community couldn't enjoy the number of events that it does without the reserve."

Miller said that he loves knowing he is serving the community by biking through the events or even spending 10 unpaid hours guarding a crime scene. But it's also more than that satisfaction - it is also knowing that his time as a reservist proves to himself that he is meant to follow in his father's footsteps.

"Being able to know that I worked for free, and the experience, and knowing my heart was in it - I wouldn't say that makes me a better officer," he said. "But I know it'll help me because of the experience and knowing that my heart is in it. I love it."