STANDISH (AP) – A successful experiment in volunteer police patrols is expanding from Scarborough into Standish, following a national trend from Florida to California.
Three years after Scarborough launched its program, Standish is starting its own Volunteers in Police Service program, which could help the town’s community policing officer keep an eye on the many Sebago Lake homes that are closed for the winter.
Cumberland County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Kevin Joyce met with chiefs from across the country who have used the program with great success while researching Standish’s program. The chief in Colorado Springs, Colo., for instance, has 500 volunteers who do everything from interpreting foreign languages to conducting inventories of helicopter parts.
In Scarborough, volunteers carrying radios to report illegal activity have been keeping an eye out for purse snatchers and car thieves in the town’s commercial parking lots.
They also enforce handicapped-parking restrictions, control traffic at major events and promote bicycle helmet safety, among other things.
“It’s not just giving them something to do, it is meaningful,” said Scarborough Police Chief Robert Moulton. “With the complement of folks we have out there doing actual patrol work, there’s no way we could do those things.”
One of Scarborough’s VIPS was James J. Durant, who died a year ago when he left a parking lot patrol to direct traffic at an accident on Route 114 until the fire and police volunteers arrived. He was hit by a car and killed.
Despite that, the work is rarely hazardous, said Ed Libby, a volunteer in Scarborough.
“Some people aren’t very nice when you tell them to move from a handicapped spot or a fire lane,” Libby said. “That don’t bother me. I’ve been around long enough I can handle that.”
Joyce said he initially worried about the Standish volunteers’ safety and liability. But volunteers get training and are screened to ensure they understand the limits, as well as benefits, of their work.
In Standish, the volunteers will be the first point of contact in the town’s program for older residents who have signed up to call the town dispatch center every morning. If they fail to call by 10 a.m., a volunteer will check on them.
Volunteers also will keep an eye on seasonal vacation homes that are unoccupied in the winter and place a speed-display sign in areas where speeding is a problem.
Libby, 65, enjoys the work in Scarborough while taking on some lower-priority public safety tasks and freeing officers for more serious work.
“It’s fun. I just love doing it,” said Libby. “To get out there and ride around, you’d be surprised how many people you can help out.”
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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://preprod.pressherald.com
AP-ES-12-27-07 1510EST
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