Voiceover: 00.00 This is The Beat - a podcast series that keeps you in the know about the latest community policing topics facing our nation Melissa Niese: 00.08 Hello and welcome. My name is Melissa Niese, and on behalf of the COPS Office, I would like to introduce to you Donna Cayson. Donna is the former volunteer coordinator of Pasadena California Police Department, and she is here to talk with us today about the value of volunteering. So, Donna, what exactly is a volunteer coordinator in a law enforcement agency, and can you provide us with some of your own experiences as a volunteer coordinator? Donna Cayson: 00.38 Good morning, Melissa. I look at the volunteer coordinator position, or volunteer manager, whatever you want to call it, as a person that wears many hats. You are the voice of the volunteers and their advocate. You are their manager and their leader. You are their cheerleader when need be, and you are their HR director; you take their applications, you interview them, you assess their skills and place them in a department, and you’re also the department’s liaison with the volunteer program. My experiences were great. I was a volunteer coordinator for about four years in Pasadena, and it was a great experience for me, and I learned a lot from my volunteers. Niese: 01.24 Great. Thank you. Can you address why law enforcement agencies should incorporate civilian volunteers? Cayson: 01.30 Bottom line: Law enforcement, they’re a business. They have a budget to operate on, and when—Just a quick story: Before law enforcement, I was a private business owner for 20 years. And if I had somebody who knocked on my door and said, “I believe in your mission, and I believe in your vision, and I want to come work for you, and oh, by the way, you don’t need to pay me; I will volunteer my time,” I would still be in business today. And that’s what the citizens of the community are doing with law enforcement. They want to come help the departments further their mission without pay, and they are skilled and community members, so that’s why law enforcement should incorporate volunteers. Niese: 02.13 So what are agencies that are already using volunteers gaining? Cayson: 02.18 Well, on the business side, they are gaining the value of the hours that volunteers are giving. Right now, the national dollar value for volunteer hours, I believe, is $21.36 an hour. And that is set by the independent sector. So, for example, in Pasadena my last year we had—the volunteers gave about 16,000 hours—and that equated to over $350,000 of value to the department. But on the flip side of that, you’re also—these volunteers are citizens of the community, and you are creating ambassadors and good will for your community, so it’s, to me, it’s two-fold, what the departments are gaining. Niese: 03.13 So what is a key factor to a successful and robust volunteer program? Cayson: 03.19 I think the number one key factor in all of it is support from the chief executive. You need his or her support, and they need to value the volunteers, and that message needs to be mandated within the department, that the volunteers are here to assist us. And once that message comes down and if there are some naysayers in the department, they quickly learn, though, that the volunteers are only there to assist the department as a whole. And once the relationships and trust are established, it works out very well. Niese: 03.56 That’s great. How does engaging with volunteers fit within the community policing philosophy? Cayson: 04.03 Well, the three components of community policing are community partnerships, organizational transformation, and solving problems or problem solving. And community partnerships: They’re community members, and they’re assisting the department, so right there’s a partnership. Organizational transformation: There is a transformation. By nature, law enforcement, we are suspicious, and we are not trusting. That’s our nature. And to have people from “the outside” come in and work side-by-side, there needs to be a transformation in the culture. There needs to be trust established and a relationship established, and I have seen that take place firsthand; that does happen. And problem-solving: Especially in today’s economy, with having to do more with less, the volunteers are a perfect fit in there. They help the department solve their monetary issues in a small—they can’t solve all the problems—but in a small way they can. Niese: 05.13 You’ve given some great descriptions and examples, and I’m sure law enforcement agencies are wondering how do they start a volunteer program and if there are any resources out there. Could you speak on that a little bit? Cayson: 05.26 Sure. There is an excellent resource: It’s called the Volunteers in Police Services, the VIPS, website, or the VIPS program, and Volunteers in Police Services is one of the five programs under the Citizen Corps umbrella. VIPS is housed in the IACP office— International Association of Chiefs of Police. They have a great website. There is training, there are resources, information. You do not need to re-invent the wheel; it is already on there. You can find manuals, policies, all kinds of things. And you can join, sign up, for free. Right now there are over 2,300 police departments that are members of it. Their very best resource is they have what’s called VIPS to VIPS. So if you have a question, you can send out an email to 2,300 police departments. For example,“I want to start a volunteer bike patrol. How do I do that?” You will get responses from all these departments. You can get policy. You can get help. Again, it’s free. They have online training. It is a great, great resource. Niese: 06.35 Great. Thank you so much, Donna, for providing us with all of your expertise. Cayson: 06.42 You’re very welcome. Thanks for having me. Voiceover: 07.13 The Beat was brought to you by the United States Department of Justice COPS Office. The COPS Office helps to keep our nation's communities safe by giving grants to law enforcement agencies, developing community policing publications, developing partnerships and solving problems.