Reserve deputies undergo 'intense' training, says Morgan Co. Sheriff

MORGAN COUNTY, AL (WAFF) - An Oklahoma deputy is now facing manslaughter charges after he claims he reached for his Taser, but grabbed his gun instead.

We asked if reserve deputies in North Alabama carry firearms.

In Morgan County, they do, and they carry non-lethal weapons as well. Sheriff Ana Franklin says the reserve deputies undego intense instruction before they go out into the field.

In fact, they undergo the same exact training as the certified paid deputies do.

The sheriff says they have never had an issue with one of their reserve deputies. And there are more than 60 of them, which is about how many paid deputies Morgan County has right now.

The reserve deputies usually ride with a paid deputy and provide backup on calls. They also serve papers, assist in prisoner transports, provide extra security for events, and many other duties. And they are free for the department.

Sheriff Franklin says the thousands of hours they work each year helps free up time for certified deputies to patrol the streets.

"You have to remember we only have about five on the road for the entire county, so moving these together to have to do that, to have another deputy in a car or another deputy in a separate vehicle as a rover, then that reserve deputy can go and be that second set of eyes and ears," Franklin said.

Of the roughly 60 volunteer Morgan County Reserve Deputies, 10 were a law enforcement officer in the past.

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