Warren Commission (12 of 26): Hearings Vol. XII (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (12 of 26): Hearings Vol. XII (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Here in the last year or so, we have been using our reserves more
maybe like an auxiliary, but there have been times such as a parade
or football parade--in other words, it wasn't an extreme emergency,
but it was an event that we realized we needed more manpower, and they
were anxious and willing and eager to help us, and they were being in
uniform and were doing a good job.
You want me to continue?
Mr. HUBERT. Do these men get any pay for this?
Mr. SOLOMON. No. There is no pay at all.
Mr. HUBERT. As a matter of fact, they buy their own pistol and uniform?
Mr. SOLOMON. Yes. They buy their own initial uniform. After that their
uniforms are maintained with the old uniforms that the regular officers
outgrow or something like that.
Mr. HUBERT. I gather from what you have said that you are rather strict
as to the training program that these people must observe, otherwise
you drop them?
Mr. SOLOMON. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What about the basic selection of these people? How do you
go about that? What are the criteria you use to select them?
Mr. SOLOMON. We have just an application form similar to what anybody
would fill out in applying for a job, which is for their background,
their schooling, what type of work they have been engaged in, where
they have lived, and so forth. Then, of course, I submit that
application to our personnel bureau which runs a background check on
them, criminal and civil, or any court record they might have that
might show their emotional stability or we run a credit check on them
for bad debts or something like that, that kind of indication that they
are not stable. And traffic arrests.
If it is somebody out of the ordinary, why we are kind of strict
along that score. I have these reserve captains that I just mentioned
that comprise the reserve staff, and each applicant I get after the
personnel board submits their findings, they interview the men, and
they have some information to go on there, and whether he is accepted
to go to school. After they interview him and ask him questions about
trying to feel out if they think he is emotionally suited for that kind
of work.
Mr. HUBERT. What, in your opinion, is it that interests a man to want
to be in the reserve program?
Mr. SOLOMON. Well, that may be a vocation a little bit. You know,
before I got into the program, I thought maybe it was just a group of
people that were just trying to--they were just eager, I would say, in
other words.
I thought they were, how should I say it, I just felt like they were
kind of overeager, or just nosy, so to speak, and they just wanted to
see around. But after I got into the program, I was amazed to find the
caliber of men. I have only been in 7 years. I went in 1957. It was
begun in 1952. And the man that had it then has since made a promotion
to inspector, and I was assigned out there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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