Volunteers boost sheriff's manpower

They are not thrill-seekers or law enforcement groupies.

They are just a group of 100 or so concerned citizens who want to make their community better and save taxpayers money in the process.

The Sheriff's Auxiliary Volunteers is a nonprofit organization that subsists on donations, without funding from the county. Its members provide a myriad of services for residents of unincorporated Pima County.

Those include: facilitating Neighborhood Watch programs; conducting residential and commercial security inspections; patrolling parks; providing the department with clerical support; and fingerprinting adults for jobs and children for identification cards.

Volunteers also go to residents' homes, on request, to record DVDs of their valuable possessions to give their insurance companies in the event of a theft or disaster.

They also direct traffic, assist at sobriety checkpoints, man the perimeter at crime scenes and operate the mobile command centers at crime scenes and situations requiring SWAT intervention.

The nonprofit was started in 1981, said auxiliary coordinator Deputy Maria Stengel. Last year the volunteers donated more than 29,518 hours and logged nearly 99,000 miles.

Pima County also has law enforcement auxiliary volunteers in Ajo and Green Valley.

Figures were not available for 2005, but in 2004, the auxiliaries in Pima County saved taxpayers $1.76 million, said Gerry Innis, 67, who has volunteered for five years and is the director of crime prevention for the Tucson-based auxiliary.

Potential volunteers must go through the same kind of background check as sheriff's deputies, attend 80 hours of training over a six-week period and pay for their own uniforms, which run between $150 and $180, Innis said.

Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and volunteer a minimum of six hours a month, he said.

Like most of the volunteers, Innis doesn't have any experience in law enforcement

"Basically it's people who are looking to help out the community," he said. "People of all ages. Right now our youngest member turned 19. There are a couple of university students that are in criminal justice. And we run all the way up to several of us in our 60s. There's a few in their 70s."

And one in her 90s, Innis said.

"When you reach retirement age and you sit around the house for a couple of months and you already have all the yard work done twice you think, 'There's got to be something you can do,' " Innis said.

He and the other volunteers keep plenty busy now.

"We kind of live by the pager," he said. "A lot of things we don't get to schedule. It's when people do stupid things that we respond with the deputies."

Dottie Graye, 85, is one of the oldest volunteers. She will celebrate her 15th anniversary with the auxiliary in November.

"When I first moved to Tucson, I didn't know anybody at all and I saw a piece in the paper where they were looking for volunteers, and I thought that would be a good way to meet people and keep busy," she said.

Graye soon volunteered to direct traffic, hand out safety pamphlets on Mount Lemmon, fingerprint children and organize the library at the jail. Now, after a couple of hip-replacement surgeries, she does mostly office work.

"People have no idea how much this organization does for the public, how much money they save them," Graye said.

Fay Spitzer, 75, who volunteers with her husband, Ray, said: "We do so much traffic control for them and help them with the DUIs (checkpoints). They would have to have the deputies go out and do what we do."

"I doubt seriously we'd have the manpower," said Deputy Stengel. "I doubt they would allocate manpower to do those jobs.

"The purpose initially — and it still is — to be eyes and ears for deputies and patrol," she said. "We're still short-handed as far as how many officers per capita compared to the national average, but now they (auxiliary) help out in every aspect of our department."

"Without the help of the volunteers we wouldn't be able to have such a successful program," said Deputy Terry Staten, co-coordinator for auxiliary.

Pima County

1750 E. Benson Highway

741-4903

1249 Ajo Well Road

520-547-8531

601 N. La Cañada Drive

547-6744