Volunteers a different kind of energy for MLPD

From ticketing to filekeeping, volunteer work an important tool of department.

For decades, a different kind of fuel has helped the efforts of the Moses Lake Police Department.

It's the work of volunteers, people who give away their time to their community, performing all sorts of tasks, from writing parking citations to filing away important documents.

Cal Baker, from the MLPD's community policing department, praised the work of volunteers at the MLPD, saying the department would be hard-pressed to do all the things it does without the help of volunteers.

"Volunteer jobs take one or two officers to do the same things." Baker said. "It takes (officers) away from more important things."

Baker said that the reasons people chose to become volunteers depended on age group. The younger ones, regularly in their mid-20s were just trying to get their foot in the door of law enforcement, wanting to see what the career is like.

Older people, from 30 years old to retirement age, are there because they want to help any way they can. Retired people are finding more time on their hands, and they want to stay active.

Some participants see it as a way of giving back, Baker said, a way of showing their gratefulness to the community that helped them in previous years.

One of the volunteers at the MLPD is Mary Oakley, whom after she retired, found herself in need of "something to do." She has been with the department for two years, working with files and other clerical tasks.

"It's no fun being retired and being bored," she said. She had never done volunteer work before joining the MLPD.

Now, her altruism has extended to visiting nursing homes once a month, along with the two hours she puts in every morning, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with the folks in uniform.

"Everyone is real nice to me, they treat me real nice," she said with a smile.

Oakley described her work as filing away crime reports, citations and tickets, but she did not describe herself as an exception among people her age.

"We are willing to do it," she said. "Younger people don't seem too interested, and you can't blame them. They have their lives, they are growing up."

Oakley goes as far as to say she is not sure she would be a volunteer if she were their age, either, adding that when you are young, there is not much time to do things.

Now, however, she is happy where she is at, among Moses Lake's finest and making a difference for her community. "I want to keep on doing this," she said. "I would like to stay here, but I would like to do something else, too."

Although he said a volunteer program has existed within the MLPD for about three decades, Baker noted that the volunteerism spiked with the development of the nationwide Volunteers In Public Service program, which began to take off after the events of Sept., 11.

That is when the volunteer program at the department signed on with VIPS and gave the department's volunteers federal recognition.

"We are on their shirttails," he said, referring to the federal government's support of VIPS nationwide.

The participation of the MLPD's volunteers in a national program has allowed them to receive training that they would not normally get, Baker said. The involvement of the International Association of Chiefs of Police gives this program an extra support as well, he said.

Right now, Baker said the program is looking for volunteers, as well. There are no citizen requirements, he said, though there are certain legal documents required, such as a permit to work in the United States.

People applying need to have no felony convictions or mayor driving tickets. Background checks will be conducted by local and state law enforcement agencies, as well as the FBI.

"It's a great program," Baker said, with Oakley, and Oakley's husband agreeing with him.

"He thinks it's a really nice," Oakley said of her husband's opinion. "It gives him a break from me."