Reserve officers wanted in Johnson City

JOHNSON CITY, Texas (KXAN) -- "It is the idyllic Texas Hill Country Town," Mayor Stephanie Fisher said about Johnson City, which is about an hour outside of Austin. "It's a very safe place to live."

Fisher doesn't want that to change.

"Pretty large population boom in the last couple of years. And it's one of those things where even if we have excellent police coverage, it's one of those things where there's almost never enough," she said.

The city currently has eight full time police officers. The goal of the new police chief, Justin Losoya - who just started this month - is to supplement current staffing numbers with a five-member reserve force.

"They'd work one day a month or two days a month," he said. "We can call them in if an officer gets sick, or just if we need extra help."

The reserve officers would work on a voluntary basis.

In the social media post Losoya wrote about the openings, he touted the strong relationship that exists between the police department and the mayor and city council.

"To me that's very important, because if they know you support the police, you might get more applicants," he said.

Nationally, officer staffing levels dropped about 3.5% from 2020 to 2022, according to the Police Executive Research Forum. The Austin Police Department is currently down about 300 officers.

In Johnson City, Fisher said there currently isn't funding for an additional full time officer. She and Losoya hope the reserve model can help fill that space.

Anyone interested in this role can find more information here.