Risk Pool Refuses Coverage for Sheriff's Volunteer 'Posse'

Thursday, February 4, 2016 | 0

A self-insured risk pool that provides workers' compensation and liability coverage for Pennsylvania counties has notified Clearfield County that it will not cover any claims resulting from the activities of a "volunteer posse" formed by county Sheriff West Thurston, the Gant News reported Wednesday.

County commissioners notified Thurston on Jan. 27 that the Pennsylvania Counties Risk Pool and its affiliate PComp had declined coverage for any claims incurred by the "Sheriff's Posse," according to the newspaper.

Thurston announced in December his plans to form a posse of 500 volunteers, some of them armed, to assist with non-emergency incidents, such as searching for missing persons or dispersing unruly crowds. Pennlive.com reported that the sheriff's office received 140 applications in the four days after the announcement.

But Clearfield County commissioners are refusing to pay for the cost of providing insurance for those volunteers.   

“The coverage should be paid for with existing funds from the Sheriff’s Office budget or, preferably, from some source other than taxpayer funds,” the commissioners said in the letter.

John R. Sallade, managing director of the risk pool, said in a letter written Jan. 25 that the pool's board of directors declined coverage for the volunteer posse because it created exposure for "potentially significant and unanticipated risk that is associated with untrained volunteers who are involved with law enforcement activities."

“Should a posse member become injured and file a workers’ compensation claim, and if a workers’ compensation judge rules the posse member is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, the county could be liable for those costs, as PComp does not provide coverage for volunteers,” Sallade told Gant News.