Police Department Reserve Program

Galveston’s Town Council on Tuesday evening narrowly voted to eliminate the police department’s reserve program in order to cut costs, months after two officers departed the force, which left only a town marshal to patrol the town of 1,300 residents. Council members voted 3-2 at the July 5 meeting to dismantle the program indefinitely. The program has seven officers who haven’t worked for most of the year because they aren’t provided insurance, which the town hasn’t had to fund in 2016 because the past board canceled those costs.