Move over police chiefs and local governments, for a new law that puts the state of Michigan in charge of reserve police officers.

Senate Bill 92, presented to the Governor in September and signed Oct. 4, gives the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) board the authority to create "Minimum standards and procedures for reserve officers."

The new law will go into effect in January, Director David Harvey said.

It could prevent reserve police forces like the one in Oakley, where a village of less than 300 people had a reserve force of about 150.

The village kept the identities of its reserve force secret and would not surrender them to citizens or in response to an MCOLES subpoena until after multiple lawsuits forced the release of reservist documents, including applications bearing the names of wealthy businessmen and Kid Rock.

Once-secret donors, some also found on the list of reservists that the village eventually released, helped Oakley pay the bills.

MCOLES currently doesn't know every department in Michigan that has a reserve force, and isn't required to know the identities of reservists, Harvey said.

"Absolutely, it will help with situations like Oakley and prevent those things from happening in the future," Harvey said, and MCOLES would know who is working as a reserve officer. "Right now, we don't know how many reservists are out there."

With several new MCOLES commissioners, Harvey said they will be educated about setting up standards and look at reserve officer activities at various departments to determine how to create the standards and procedures.

They could include physical standards, hiring standards and training standards, Harvey said.

"The citizen should know the person in the uniform, a reservist or an officer, at least met some kind of minimum training," Harvey said. Another concern is that people out working as reservists could be in harm's way because they lack proper training.

"We can't continue to put people out there in uniform without training," Harvey said.

State Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker

Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Antwerp Township, sponsor of the bill, said some reserve forces are outstanding, "but in some cases around the state, we have seen questionable uses of these officers."

She said one community gave "vast" law enforcement powers to untrained individuals, and another hired a large number of reserve officers in a small community.

It will ensure reserve police officers will be held to a high standard across the state, she said.

Michigan has seen a few cases of reserve police forces attracting complaints in recent years.

The controversial reserve police force continues to operate in Oakley.

After a legal battle spanning years and multiple Michigan counties, the village released reserve police officer applications bearing the names of Kid Rock, Michael Malik Sr., and other rich and famous Michiganders.

Kid Rock still hasn't said anything publicly about his link to Oakley and his agent has not responded to multiple questions. Former village President Doug Shindorf told The Saginaw News in April 2014 that Kid Rock was a reservist.

While working as Oakley's police chief, Robert Reznick also got a job in Jackson County's Waterloo Township, where he began to create a reserve force and raised about $100,000 through donations. Residents there later voted down a police protection millage, and the township board voted in February 2015 to shutter the police department.

In August 2014 in southwest Michigan, Barry Township Police Chief Victor Pierce resigned after several months of public scrutiny over his 34-member reserve force in the community of about 3,300 people, and allegations of police harassment.

The MSP investigated and found no criminal wrongdoing, but troopers made several recommendations on changes in July 2014 before the chief's resignation.

Other police chiefs and sheriffs have their own set of standards, and some say they strive to be transparent about who is on the force.

"I think for the agencies that do a good job of vetting people before they become a reserve officer and do training, it's not going to affect them very much at all," Harvey said. "But we'll have a standard for them to compare themselves to."

The package of bills also provides training for certified police officers "throughout their career," Schuitmaker said. It was part of a 17-bill package that requires MCOLES to produce a public report addressing the topic of fostering public trust in law enforcement.

The bills require licenses instead of certificates for law enforcement officers, has the commission establish rules governing law enforcement officer licensing standards, authorizes the commission to investigate violations of the rules or law and requires officers to inform MCOLES when charged with a particular offense.