LAKE COUNTY – Local law enforcement agencies have numerous challenges, not the least of which are staff and fiscal resources.
That requires a certain creativity and willingness to go outside of the departments to look for help in serving and protecting the public.
One way local agencies are taking on that challenge is through volunteers.
This week Lakeport Police Chief Kevin Burke announced the formation of a volunteer program at LPD.
“When I first got here a year ago we began discussing a volunteer program,” he said.
LPD has since hired Mark Hommer, formerly a Lake County Sheriff's deputy, who was responsible for coordinating LCSO's volunteer program, said Burke.
The timing of Hommer's arrival lined up with Burke's goal to launch the program.
“Mark really gave us a golden opportunity to start the program earlier than we would have,” said Burke.
Lakeport's new volunteer program has four volunteers – Fred Gaul, Pat McFarland, Debbie England and Gary Williamson – all of whom received their volunteer badges at a presentation at Tuesday night's Lakeport City Council meeting.
The volunteers will help with a broad number of tasks, said Burke, from internal paperwork and report processing to assisting with traffic control at large city events, parking enforcement and abandoned vehicles.
Those duties will allow department staff to focus on other tasks, Burke said. LPD's staff is small – 14 sworn officers (including Burke) and four civilian positions, he added.
Volunteers won't be involved with enforcement issues, said Burke. “We're not going to put them in a position where they could get hurt or have to arrest somebody.”
They must undergo background because they will have access to secure areas and information, he said. The amount of time the volunteers will serve will be up to them, said Burke.
“The only real requirement is the desire to serve the community and a desire to have fun,” he said.
He added, “If they're not having fun, we're doing something wrong.”
He said his volunteer group is very enthusiastic, and includes two members with previous experience volunteering with law enforcement.
Burke said volunteers will learn about the police department while, at the same time, offering officers and staff a view from the outside. That different perspective, he added, is very beneficial for everyone.
Volunteering is perfect for retired folks, Burke said. “It's really important work.”
The county's most active law enforcement volunteer program is at the sheriff's office.
“We've had a volunteer program in place since 1988,” said Sheriff Rod Mitchell, who said the program was around when he was a deputy sheriff on the force.
Over the years the program has grown from a small cadre of people who worked primarily at the Lower Lake substation to approximately 75 volunteers who offer broad-based services throughout the department's substations and main office, Mitchell said.
Today, volunteers help oversee inmates, take care of equipment, conduct vacation checks on homes and serve in LCSO's Office of Emergency services.
“We are right now in the process of expanding our volunteer program to do more technical services that will assist in our investigations division,” Mitchell said.
Although many LCSO volunteers are seniors, Mitchell said quite a number are actually younger working people, which he said helps make for a diverse group.
“It's really a pretty cool thing to see,” he said.
In the City of Clearlake, interim Police Chief Larry Todd has plans to recraft the department's volunteer force.
For many years, volunteers were most visible as part of the Clearlake Community Patrol. That, said Todd, is about to change.
“The Community Patrol is still in existence, but it's going away,” he said, explaining that the program has lacked the necessary supervision.
“We are going to create a new program called Volunteers in Policing,” Todd said, adding that he had an 80-member VIPs group while he served as chief of the Los Gatos Police Department.
Clearlake's VIPs force is still being crafted, said Todd, and he expects to have the program in place and to begin recruiting later in April.
Clearlake Police's volunteers would have broad duties not unlike those undertaken by volunteers at LCSO and LPD. Todd said they'll help with home vacation checks, filing reports and citations, equipment maintenance, code enforcement, and in the records and detective bureau.
The volunteers also will help at the department's front counter, making sure people are immediately greeted and assisted when they arrive, he said.
VIPs will additionally assist in investigations, said Todd, following up with people on case and investigation status.
“We've invited members of the Community Patrol group who want to transition over into the new program to do that,” said Todd.
He said there will be background checks and clearances required to join the VIPs, with a minimum requirement of four hours of service weekly. Volunteers must take a 40-hour training, which likely will be scheduled in the early evenings, he said.
VIPs will be a part of the police department, said Todd, unlike the Community Patrol, which “has been more or less its own separate organization,” he said.
The new volunteer force will have access to vehicles which are marked “so they're not mistaken for police officers,” Todd said.
He said he hopes to have 50 to 80 community members involved in the program.
Cadet programs also offered
Burke said LPD also has its first police cadet, Erik Meyer, a local high school graduate interested in a law enforcement career. The cadet program was started at the City Council's suggestion, he said, which encourages the city's departments to hire interns
Meyer was chosen from among four applicants, said Burke. He added that LPD will have only one cadet at a time, and will focus on giving Meyer a “nuts and bolts, apprentice-style experience.”
The sheriff's department has its Explorer Post, which is a cadet program for young people between the ages of 14 to 20, according to the sheriff's Web site.
The program teaches members about crime prevention and law enforcement, public service, traffic control, basic criminal investigations, communications, record keeping and public speaking. It also offers Explorers the chance to ride with deputies once they've met training requirements.
Todd said CPD doesn't have a cadet program. “I won't be here long enough to put it together,” he said, but added he'll recommend such a program to the new chief and city administrator.
He said his vision for a good cadet program for Clearlake would be a 20-hour-per-week position for high school graduates who were also required to attend college. Once they turned 21, the department could hire them.
“We'd be able to recruit more from our local youth who have ties in the community already,” he said.
In other agencies where he's worked cadet programs have been common. “It's like raising your own kids,” he said.
Anyone interested in applying to become an Explorer with LCSO should contact Deputy Carla Hocket, Deputy John Gregore or Deputy Gavin Wells at the LCSO main office, 262-4200. More about the program can be found at www.lakesheriff.com/explorerpost.asp.
Burke said Lakeport Police welcomes anyone in the community who is interested in taking part in Lakeport's volunteer program to apply. The LPD business number is 263-5491.
Todd said recruitment for Clearlake's VIP program will begin later this spring.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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