Sheriff’s Volunteers Honored for Work

They answer questions, fingerprint children and help guard stream crossings during rainstorms.

And occasionally, the volunteers who staff Moorpark’s Police Resource Center win some recognition for their efforts.

Volunteers and Ventura County Sheriff’s Department brass and deputies gathered Monday at the Red River restaurant in downtown Moorpark to salute three of the center’s most stalwart workers, each of whom has volunteered more than 1,000 hours at the center.

Center Coordinator Kathy LeClair and volunteers Judi Daufeldt and Judie Loncaric became the first inductees into what Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Lewis called the “Thousand Hour Club.” Their names will be added to a plaque in the resource center on Moorpark Avenue.

“Think of the countless hours these people put in,” said Capt. Marty Rouse, former head of the department’s Moorpark division. “We’re all very, very indebted to these people.”

The three new club members received their own plaques, bouquets of flowers and gift certificates to Red River and Wood Ranch Barbeque.

The center’s 21 active volunteers handle some routine police tasks--such as taking resident complaints and giving out information--so that deputies can spend more time on patrol. Several volunteers said they were touched to see so many deputies at the award luncheon.

“We do it for you guys,” Daufeldt told the crowd. “That’s the reason we put in the hours.”