Handle Paper Work : Volunteers Aid Police at Checks for Sobriety

The Los Angeles Police Department has begun to use citizen volunteers to help with administrative chores at checkpoints for drunk drivers in the San Fernando Valley, authorities said Saturday.

Four civilian volunteers and five reserve police officers helped 18 full-time officers working at two checkpoints in Van Nuys late Friday and early Saturday, Sgt. Dennis Zine said.

Police stopped 918 drivers at the checkpoints, tested 24 of them for sobriety and arrested 17, said Sgt. Curtis Fesler.

Police stopped westbound traffic on Sherman Way east of Varna Avenue between 10 p.m. and 11:40 p.m. Friday. The officers then moved to Woodman Avenue north of Sherman Way, where they checked southbound traffic between 12:35 a.m. and 2:10 a.m. Saturday, Fesler said.

The citizen volunteers tallied the time it took police to process cars through the checkpoint, Zine said, because guidelines from the state attorney general’s office specify that citizens may not be delayed more than three minutes at the roadblocks.

Line Officers Freed

Zine said the department plans to use civilian volunteers regularly in order to “keep our line officers available for the critical activities.”

He stressed that the civilians will not perform police work. “The civilians will not be involved in the stopping of the cars. They will not be involved in field sobriety testing or handcuffing of arrestees,” Zine said.

The reserve officers transported prisoners to police stations, filled out paper work on impounded cars and helped process paper work on suspected drunk drivers picked up at the checkpoints, Zine said.

The civilian volunteers came from the Citizens Advisory Committee of City Councilman Hal Bernson. Members of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and several police support groups have also expressed interest in participating, Zine said.