They may not carry guns or have academy-grade training, but members of the Santa Maria Police Department’s volunteer program are an integral part of the city’s police force.
Since 1995, civilians have been doing certain tasks that “free up employees to go on and do something else,” volunteer coordinator Penny Pastore said.
The services provided by the volunteers fall into two groups—clerical and patrol—and include everything from filing and entering police reports into a computer system, to marking and towing abandoned vehicles.
But the level of responsibility that accompanies these tasks, Pastore said, is anything but ordinary.
“I don’t think most volunteer places require a background check and fingerprinting. It’s because of all the things you might see,” she explained. “While volunteering here, you might file a report about your neighbor committing spousal abuse or your best friend’s mother getting arrested for drunk driving, and you can’t do anything with it or say anything.”
And the police department takes confidentiality very seriously—so no busybodies need apply.
“We explain to our volunteers during their orientation that if they divulge any confidential information—and that gets found out by us somehow—they’re out the door,” Pastore said.
Of course, volunteers don’t have free reign at the police station. They have set duties and limited jurisdiction.
Currently, there are 21 people volunteering for the department, the majority of which do clerical work. These individuals are sent to different department divisions to enter police report data and assist with office work.
While some people might consider paper pushing a trivial job, Pastore said it certainly stretches the department’s funds.
Based on program records, Pastore estimates her volunteers worked about 4,000 hours in 2009. And according to Volunteers in Police Service, a Citizens Corps program enacted by former president George Bush, volunteers save cities about $17 an hour.
“So, 4,000 times 17—I’ll let you do the math,” Pastore said.
For the record, that amounts to approximately $68,000. According to information on the city’s website, starting pay for a police records technician is about $32,000. Starting pay for a patrol officer is about $63,000.
Other clerical duties include performing live scans and checking pawn slips.
Similarly, volunteer patrol officers perform tasks that sworn officers, along with their other duties, don’t have time to complete.
First, the patrol officers check, mark, and sometimes tow vehicles people report as being abandoned.
In 2009, the department’s volunteers marked a total of 785 vehicles, and towed 157. According to city policy, the volunteers must give car owners 72 hours to move their cars before going out to tow.
Pastore said tending to these calls requires some finesse, “because you’re towing someone’s property.” Also, people reporting the cars on the city’s hotline can sometimes lie about how long the car has been there.
Patrol volunteers also check on people’s homes while they’re on vacation.
“The officers usually only have time to drive by and maybe shine a light,” Pastore said. “The volunteers get out of the car and check the door. They can go into the backyard if they have permission from the owner.”
Typically, people call the police department with a list of things they’d like someone to keep an eye on while they’re gone, such as whether or not their newspaper delivery has been stopped or their cat is being fed.
Other patrol duties include working parades, searching for at-risk adults and missing children, and assisting Pastore with community outreach events.
The position turned out to be a perfect fit for Win Rinker. Before moving to Santa Maria in the early 2000s, Rinker worked for 29 years with the city of Los Angeles doing radio work. Rinker’s experience is especially handy since all patrol officers are required to learn police radio codes.
“When you retire, you have more time—supposedly,” Rinker joked.
When asked his favorite part of the job, Rinker said: “I get to get out on the town; I’m all over the town, not just in one place. And it’s a service to the community, of course.”
Contact News Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 14-21, 2010.