Dover hires first civilian police officers Published Oct. 16, 2008 By Airman 1st Class Shen-Chia Chu 436th AW Public Affairs DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- The first three civilian police officers were hired at Dover AFB as part of an Air Force-wide effort to stabilize security forces career field manning. Richard Copeland and Rafael Gonzalez, were hired as 436th Security Forces Squadron supervisor police officers, and Rick Brewer, was hired as the 436th SFS assistant operations officer. "It feels great to be part of a new beginning and aid in getting this program successfully implemented," said Mr. Copeland, who retired after serving nearly 25 years as a SFS member. "I like this program because it gives us more hands-on involvement in supporting our troops whether deployed or here at home station." The police officers will wear BDUs with blue baseball caps and no rank insignia as part of an Air Mobility Command Provost program to test Department of the Air Force civilian law enforcement on base. The uniform will have 'U.S. Air Force Security Forces Police' sewn on the sleeve and they will wear a distinctive badge. "Instead of wearing stripes on my sleeve, I'm wearing the police badge with the same uniform, doing the same job," said Mr. Gonzalez, who served in the Air Force for nine years as a security forces member. The police officers will have the same legal authority as their active-duty counterparts, and will perform all the duties Security Forces members perform. Before assuming their duties, the officers will complete formal training requirements, on-the-job training and pass a standardization evaluation. "We welcome our prior-enlisted members back with open arms," said Staff Sgt. Denny Henney, 436th SFS controller, who had worked with Mr. Gonzalez while being deployed. "They're a great asset to the base, helping with the manning of security and I'm happy to have them back on the team," said Senior Airman Joe Clark, 436th SFS.