San Luis, Ariz. police lend officers to federal violent offender task force
They will receive OT pay from the marshals Service
SAN LUIS, Ariz. – San Luis police officers will serve as members of the U.S. Marshals Service’s Violent Offender Task Force, under an agreement beween the city and the federal law enforcement agency.
The memorandum of understanding, approved recently by the San Luis City Council, allows city police officers to serve off-duty on the task force, formed to track down and arrest fugitives sought for violent state and federal offenses. The officers will receive overtime pay from the Marshals Service.
San Luis Police Chief Richard Jessup said the partnership has the benefit of giving his department greater access to criminal databases, as well as funds from confiscation of criminal assets in cases in which the police officers take part with the task force.
“It’s a great benefit for the department, (it represents) a great amount of information that we will get from them in cases that, as a department, we wouldn’t have gotten (otherwise),” he told the council. “This is tremendously important for us.”
Among the fugitives sought by the task force are those wanted for crimes with weapons, violent crimes related to drugs and sex offenders who fail to register.
Lt. Marco Santana, spokesman for San Luis police, said one or more of the department’s officers could end up serving with the task force.
“The police chief is always looking for ways to benefit the department and the community,” Santana said. “This memorandum will have many benefits and it will be done without having to take officers away from their normal duty shifts.”
He said city police officers already lend their services to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations under a similar pact, and that the department is looking at entering into a similar agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Jessup said the police department previously loaned officers to the Violent Offender Task Force about five years ago, but had to stop owing to a staff shortage in the department’s ranks.