The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office will be graduating 19 Reserve Deputies next week.

“We are pleased to graduate these Deputies.  These Deputies are to be commended for their efforts to serve our community by working as volunteer officers,” said Shelby County Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell, Jr.

For the past 26 weeks, the Deputies have been part of a rigorous training course which included firearms training, physical agility, and Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures.  They receive the same training as full-time officers.  The new Reserve Deputies will be immediately assigned to the Patrol Division. 

The graduation ceremony will be held Thursday night, January 18, 2007, at Hope Presbyterian Church, 8500 Walnut Grove Road, Memphis, Tennessee, at 7 p.m.

With next Thursday night’s graduation, there will be 179 Reserve Deputies who serve at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

To be a Reserve Deputy, each officer is required to work at least 24 hours a month, which includes two assigned shifts and one special assignment shift.

Along with the 19 Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Deputies five officers from other area law Tennessee enforcement agencies will graduate from the Sheriff’s Training Academy Thursday evening.

These include two officers from Munford, one from Moscow, one from Piperton, and one from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.