- Tori Lee, Records Section volunteer since February 2005. Happy Anniversary Tori!
In 2008, 107 Eugene Police Department (EPD) volunteers donated 25,116 hours of service to the department and community, with an added value of $490,013.
The national average hourly value of volunteer time is developed by the Independent Sector. The hourly value of volunteer time is based on the average hourly wage for all non-management, non-agriculture workers as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 12 percent increase to estimate for fringe benefits. The current hourly wage is $19.51.
This is a milestone for the program; never before have volunteers contributed more than 25,000 hours in a year. Current volunteers range in age from 20 to 84 and include students, citizens who support law enforcement and want to give back to their community, retirees, full-time employees and individuals who have aspirations of ultimately working for the department. Thirty-six volunteers are graduates of the Citizens’ Police Academy.
“…never before have volunteers contributed more than 25,000 hours in a year.”
Willard Grabofsky, a volunteer since September 2007 on the Seniors on Patrol and Squad Car Maintenance teams.
By involving volunteers, EPD is able to provide additional services – services the public wants, but the department is unable to provide or unable to make a priority due to budget and staffing limitations. Examples include home vacation checks and enforcement of disabled parking violations. Volunteers also maximize existing resources. By assisting Crime Prevention Specialists with bicycle registration events, more citizens are able to register their bicycles with EPD. Volunteers provide support at Police Activities League summer camps, Safety Town and the Prevention Convention, assist with administering the Crime Stoppers Program, purge property for the Property Control Unit, participate in a speakers bureau, photograph events, provide chaplain services and role play for disaster preparedness and team training exercises.
Volunteers relieve paid staff of routine duties, better allowing employees to concentrate on other responsibilities. Examples include filing police reports and citations for the Records Section, assisting the Property Crimes Unit by entering transaction data from metal recyclers into a database, preparing certified copies of audio tape records for the Communications/911 Center, filing adult arrest fingerprint cards and entering data for the Forensic Evidence Unit, writing articles for newsletters, providing reception at neighborhood substations, entering details concerning allegations of child abuse and neglect into a spreadsheet for the Violent Crimes Unit and digitally dubbing news stories for the Public Information Office. Seasoned volunteers further relieve paid staff by serving as trainers for new volunteers.
Other highlights for 2008 include the activities of three volunteer teams. Twenty-two Seniors on Patrol Team volunteers spent nearly 6,000 hours patrolling streets, bike paths and parks, providing a theft-from-vehicle prevention service, issuing warnings and citations to violators of signed disabled parking spaces, assisting with traffic calming efforts and digitally photographing serialized and valuable property for Eugene residents. Members of this team also recovered 45 stolen vehicles and conducted vacation checks at the homes of 108 Eugene residents. Ten Huckleberry Patrol Team volunteers located, digitally photographed, and removed 622 graffiti tags in the midtown area. Nineteen Squad Car Maintenance Team volunteers spent 4,445 hours shuttling police cars needing mechanical work to and from Fleet Maintenance (1,237 times), washing cars inside and out (849 times), inventorying and restocking trunks (521 times), performing minor repairs (319 times) and changing tires (57 times).
For more information, contact Volunteers in Policing Program Manager, Carrie Chouinard, at 541.682.5355 or carrie.f.chouinard@ci.eugene.or.us.
Note: This article was reprinted with permission from the Eugene City Council newsletter.
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