The Eugene Police Department currently has 73 volunteers, who contributed 12,983 hours of service in 2017. On Wednesday, April 18, we will have a National Volunteer Week Celebration to honor our volunteers and their contributions in 2017.
Sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation, National Volunteer Week is about thanking one of America's most valuable assets – our volunteers – and calling the public's attention to all that they do to improve our communities. This year, NVW is April 15-21, when we recognize and distribute a variety of awards that are not issued at any other time, including President’s Volunteer Service Awards and Hours of Service Milestone Awards.
President's Volunteer Service Awards are the most prestigious volunteer awards currently connected to the White House that all Americans can aspire to achieve. The awards are issued for hours volunteered during a 12-month period (January through December). Volunteers who have contributed 100+ hours during that time frame will be receiving an award based on their annual hours of service (bronze, silver or gold).
Highlights from EPD’s 2017 Volunteers in Policing Program:
- This year the Huckleberry Patrol Team was operational from May 31 through October 4. During these months they patrolled the midtown area of Eugene on bicycles, looking for graffiti in myriad forms—including paint and stickers. The team works closely with business owners and private property owners to match paint and quickly eradicate graffiti from signposts, windows, walls, sidewalks and structures. In total, the team removed 1,880 graffiti tags this season—the highest number of graffiti tag removals in one season since the team was founded in 2007.
- This year the Squad Car Maintenance Team served 3,265 hours washing patrol vehicles, restocking trunks, and shuttling vehicles to and from Fleet Services for maintenance and repair. In 2017, this team shuttled 907 vehicles, washed 824 vehicles, replaced 41 tires, performed 80 minor maintenance or repair services, and restocked 551 patrol vehicle trunks.
- This year the Seniors on Patrol Team served 3,212 hours throughout the city. They performed 289 vehicle patrols and 1,326 home vacation checks. The SOP issued 131 disabled parking warnings and 97 disabled parking citations. They placed the decoy vehicle throughout the city for traffic calming 323 times and recorded 3,642 positive interactions with the citizens of Eugene.
- In 2017, the VIP program saw a shift toward preserving the department’s history and memorabilia. Four volunteers assisted in various roles to support this objective: one volunteer is creating a catalog of all memorabilia items in storage, including photos, newspaper articles, annual reports, jail logs, and more; one volunteer has scanned thousands of department photographs for digital safekeeping; another volunteer has interviewed current and former members of the K-9 unit and documented the units history through a yearbook; finally, the Public Information Office volunteer is scanning and saving archived annual reports for department safekeeping.
Volunteering at the Eugene Police Department
For information on how to become a volunteer at the Eugene Police Department, visit the Eugene Police Website at www.eugene-or.gov/policevolunteers or contact Volunteers in Policing Program Manager Lindy Smith at 541.682.5355