RESERVE OFFICER ACADEMY MOVES TO PITCHESS SITE.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

A reserve training academy, operated at College of the Canyons for more than a decade, has moved to the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center due to campus enrollment growth and a shortage of classrooms.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department ran its Reserve Peace Officer Academy at the college since 1986, training men and women to be volunteer sheriff's deputies and police officers for law enforcement agencies countywide.

The last class, which graduated July 20, split its time between College of the Canyons and barracks from the old honor rancho that have been converted into classrooms, said Capt. Patrick Mallon, who oversees the department's Reserve Forces Bureau.

``They're really tight for space. So we looked . . . and found some at the honor rancho,'' Mallon said. ``We've had a very nice relationship with the college, and we understand that growth has to occur. We're not sure whether there will be room when they're done with their expansion or not.''

Enrollment at the college has swelled to more than 7,000 students in recent semesters.

The reserve academy originally was established at College of the Canyons in response to the large numbers of full-time and reserve law enforcement officers who live in the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, Mallon said. The Sheriff's Department operates an academy in Whittier that trains paid, full-time recruits who will become deputies upon graduation.

The reservists, meanwhile, undergo 18 hours of training per week at their 22-week academy. Because the college allowed the Sheriff's Department to use campus classrooms for free, moving the reserve academy to Pitchess won't bring the department any cost savings, Mallon said.

Prospective reservists who train at College of the Canyons have gone on to volunteer for the Sheriff's Department, along with smaller police departments in places such as Glendale, Burbank, South Gate, Maywood, La Verne and Signal Hill. Classes usually number about 30 reservists per session, Mallon said.

The most recent class graduated approximately 30 reservists, and the Sheriff's Department runs about two academies per year. Reserve deputies, who must meet the same qualifications as their sworn counterparts, add a volunteer force of about 790 to the department ranks, Mallon said.

``They're required to put in 24 hours a month of service to the county,'' he added, noting that the department pays each reserve the token sum of $1 per year.

The honor rancho, where a laundry and dairy once were operated by minimum-security county jail inmates, has been closed for several years, so the space was available on the Pitchess compound. The land has a shooting range that the reservists can use in their firearms training classes, Mallon said.

The next reserve academy will begin Aug. 25. Applicants must be U.S. citizens with no felony convictions, at least 20 years of age, high school graduates and in good physical condition. Mallon said candidates should be employed or full-time students with a driver's license.

Prospective reservists will undergo an extensive background check and psychological evaluation, and pass a polygraph test. ``They must meet the same hiring standards that our regular deputies meet,'' Mallon said.