GARDEN GROVE : Volunteers Team With Police to Fight Crime

Janice Miller last year decided to join the Garden Grove Police Department as a volunteer, partly because she was bored crunching numbers as an accountant.

Her first job on the force was to help investigate a suicide.

“I love forensics,” said Miller, a grandmother in her 40s. She said she has learned to lift fingerprints, take and develop photographs and maintain records.

Miller is a member of Volunteers in Policing, a program unveiled by the Police Department on Jan. 15. Residents who volunteer complete a 16-hour course on police procedure and are assigned such jobs as keeping office records and checking on the homes of residents who are on vacation.

The program currently has 23 members, but Police Capt. Dave Abrecht said there are plans to increase the number to 50. Among the volunteers are a retired pharmacist, a retired construction supervisor and a city employee who wants to become a police officer.

Abrecht said volunteers with bilingual skills are needed for the city’s growing minority communities.

The volunteers “allow us to redeploy paid staff to other jobs,” said Abrecht. He said the program also fosters closer relations between the police and the community.

Each volunteer is given a uniform. Those assigned to check on the homes of vacationing residents work in pairs and are provided with a vehicle.

“We’re taught to stay out of danger,” said Siegfried Pinchut, 63. “If we see trouble, we’re not to be involved. We carry cellular phones for emergencies.”