Sheriff’s Plan Tabs Seniors in Crime Fight : Thousand Oaks: Volunteers may be used to check on the homes of vacationing residents, take graffiti reports and ticket illegally parked cars.

Hoping to put extra eyes and ears on the streets to deter crime in Thousand Oaks, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is planning to assemble a volunteer senior citizens patrol.

Elderly volunteers are helping to make streets safer in such cities as Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and even San Diego through similar programs, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Hansen, who is drafting the proposal for Thousand Oaks.

“We’re in the early planning stages of this program. We haven’t even sent a report or any kind of request to the City Council or city manager yet,” Hansen said Tuesday. “I’m sure there’ll be a fairly decent level of interest in volunteers.”

The volunteers would perform work that uniformed officers often don’t get to because of a lack of time, such as checking on the homes of vacationing residents, taking graffiti reports, and ticketing illegally parked cars in fire lanes and spaces reserved for drivers with disabilities, Hansen said.

But the Thousand Oaks volunteers might also be put into specially marked cruisers with two-way radios so that they can serve as a sort of roving Neighborhood Watch, Hansen said.

Volunteers would get a minimum of 30 to 40 hours of training, including in first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and ticket-writing, he said.

“One of the things we’d hammer the hardest is that they’re not police officers,” Hansen warned. “They’re citizen-volunteers and are not to become involved in law enforcement activities. If they observe a crime in progress, they’re to take no action, but to maintain a safe distance, observe and report what they see to sworn deputies.”

Since 1990, when a similar program began in Fountain Valley, elderly volunteers have freed sworn officers from hours spent on less-critical tasks, said Leslie Potter, who oversees the program.

But the city has also benefited from the volunteers, who roam the streets in two radio-equipped cars labeled with the Fountain Valley Police Department logo, she said.

“When they’re out in the city, they’re very visible,” Potter said. “People know who they are. It’s a real deterrent. . . . They’re basically the eyes and ears of the Police Department.”

Hansen said that if approved, the Thousand Oaks program would start small, asking initially for about 20 volunteers between the ages of 55 and 80.

“With a smaller group, we’ll be able to make any adjustments necessary before we try and broaden it,” he said. “We’ll find out how much we can get accomplished with those people and find out how much time is required (for deputies) to oversee a program like this.”

But even before it has been announced officially, the program is drawing interest from older Thousand Oaks residents, said Frank James, a graduate of the Sheriff’s Citizens Academy who has been working with Hansen on bringing the idea to life.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to about it has seemed very enthused. We’ll probably have more volunteers than we can accept,” said James, 66, a retired movie soundman.

“It’s something people can get involved in and . . . help out in the community and still relieve some of the police officers from doing some of the mundane things they do--if (officers) have time to do it,” he said.

Added James: “And it’s something to get involved in rather than sitting here watching the idiot box or something of that sort.”