DANA POINT : Program Will Allow Seniors to Aid Police

Senior citizens will be able to volunteer to perform a variety of police duties such as fingerprinting, parking enforcement and traffic control under a program approved this week by the City Council.

The Volunteer Interest Program for Seniors, or VIPS, will permit qualified seniors to be trained to aid Sheriff’s Department deputies by Sept. 1. Some of the other duties the seniors will undertake include bicycle registration, marking abandoned vehicles and assisting in Neighborhood Watch presentations.

Initial costs of the program are estimated at $27,500, with the money going for office equipment, uniforms and a van or truck to be used by the seniors. The council balked at appropriating another $7,500 for a radar display board to show the speed of drivers on city streets and instead suggested the city look into sharing a board with another city.

The council approved the senior volunteer program unanimously.

“This is yet another way the City Council can enhance the police services that residents have repeatedly said they want,” Councilman Mike Eggers said.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Councilwoman Eileen Krause said. “It’s positive, it’s community involvement, and I think the seniors are a community resource we should use.”

Volunteers who qualify will be required to go through an approximately 40-hour training program covering rules of conduct, first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, police procedures, and police radio and records instruction.