SourceURL:file:///Users/benettkessler/Desktop/NEWS%20RELEASE%20-%20Volun%23BB34F8.doc
MAMMOTH LAKES POLICE DEPARTMENT IS RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS (Press Release)
On June 19, the Mammoth Lakes Town Council approved the Police Department’s Volunteer Program. So, the MLPD is recruiting volunteers!
Do you have some time to volunteer and give back to your community? Are you interested in helping the Police Department keep Mammoth Lakes safe for our residents and visitors? Would you like to learn more about your police department and spend time supporting your police officers?
If so, the MLPD Volunteer Program may be the place for you. Volunteers are needed to perform administrative duties such as greeting and assisting visitors at the front counter, providing translation services, and data entry. There will also be a Community Patrol where volunteers will patrol the streets conducting vacation checks, enforcing some parking violations, and assisting at crime and traffic collision scenes. We are also looking for volunteers to reestablish the Neighborhood Watch Program.
The requirements for volunteers include that they must be at least 18 years of age, in good health, and pass a background investigation.
Volunteers will be required to attend an volunteer training academy to be scheduled some time in July.
Applications can be picked up at the Police Department, 568 Old Mammoth Road, Monday-Friday from 8 am until 4 pm. Or you can request one by mail by calling (760) 934-2011. Applications will also be available on-line in about one week.
This recruitment will be on-going, but an initial application deadline has been set for August 23. There will be an orientation meeting on Tuesday, August 27 at 6 pm.
Discover more from Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News - The Community's News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I like the idea of community members taking pride in their village, and I already assume that most of the town of Mammoth lakes already looks out for its own.
Just remember, You do have freedom! as long as you submit to “vacation stops”, “submit to anything a officer says”, “Pay Your fines”, “act accordingly”, “be a consumer and not producer” and by all means support all rules, regulations and laws that seem to be pin pointed at you and me, that really only serve the established powers.
In these days of tough economic times, we are only as free as our purchasing power allows us to be.
No George Zimmerman’s please!
“You like your freedom J-Frog?” “Then get back in line!”
“Vacation Check?”
Is that when police stop “vacationers” to make sure that their papers are in order, and that they’re in the correct vacationing area?
MOST PD’s have senior volunteer’s who periodically (check) the residences of people who are on (vacation),to make sure that everything stays where it belongs, hence the term, vacation check. They’re main objective is visibility and they’re also another set of eyes and ears for the real cops… OKIE, DOKIE ? If you see something,say something.
You sound a little paranoid, Patriot. There are successful police volunteer programs all over the country and MLPD’s is patterned after the model Volunteers In Police Service (VIPS). There is already a valuable volunteer program that supports the Police, Fire, and Health Departments before and during emergencies. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is another common volunteer program. You have nothing to worry about. Why don’t you pick up an application and check it out to reduce your concerns?
I think it’s great you are willing to respond on this site Chief Watson. But, were you not against the cuts and volunteer program originally?
I was against the cuts in police staffing at the time they were being discussed and still believe we have an inadequate number of officers to provide the level of service this community needs and deserved. But once the Council made the decision on the budget cuts, my job became to make the best of a bad situation.
I was never opposed to a volunteer program, reserve program, or more technology. I was vocal, though, in disagreeing with those who suggested that volunteers, reserves, and technology can replace full time, trained police officers. My position remains the same. Trained volunteers can be a valuable asset to any police department and improve efficiency and quality of service, but they cannot replace officers who have powers of arrest and the training and ability to handle complex law enforcement matters.
I hope that explains what may appear to be conflicting positions.
Thank you for your response Chief Watson , my respect for the job you are doing is only growing.
In a perfect world, you want to be the one who can legally carry a gun.
The only credentials, abilities, education, experience, etc. required by our elected officials (who have the power to dictate to Chief Watson what he must do or not do) is that they received the most votes (and two of our town councilmen didn’t need ANY votes) .
This is a part of our society that I have never been able to get my head around.
We desperately need laws on the books that allow one term served only for all elected officials.
Or a lottery system of sorts where all citizens are sort of “drafted” into the process.
I see you circulating a petition.
BK
Benett,
With all your experience is such matters, and your regular input on things political, why don’t YOU draft a petition? I’ll gladly circulate it.
You’re the one with the beefs. Not me! Do it yourself.
Benett Kessler
Is anyone else creeped out by the similarity of this program to the Nazi Youth of the 1920’s?
It also served to train future members of the not so savory brand of law enforcement of the time.
I sure hope the chief isn’t trying to come up with a snappy logo for the sleeves of the “volunteer” recruits uniforms.
Maybe it’s time to go back to the Sheriffs?
To forget the past is to relive it.
Patriot –
Thanks for that historical reminder of how and why the Nazi movement easily came into power during bad economic times and periods of social unrest.
Easy to scapegoat entire groups of people when you rile the masses up.
Also easy to wave the flag until its a blur and declare your group to be the most nationalistic.
If I’m not mistaken, the same political tactic is occurring in this country at the moment. Bad economy, race, people claiming to be the only people concerned about the country, labeling, trying to dominate groups … and lots already duped into thinking no further or deeper than what they are told to think and believe.
Patriot, my friend, I’m no fan of fascism, in its origin or in its contemporary pseudo-manifestations. But a small mountain town soliciting volunteers for the local police doesn’t really invoke immediate mental pictures of Heinrich Himmler, does it? In fact, it seems kind of…American. But at the first sign of a budding Lavrentiy Beria plotting nefariously at the Skate Park or McCoy Station, I will concede the point to you.
Take it easy, Patriot. It’s a bit of a stretch to equate a police volunteer program with Nazism. Give it a chance.
So Patroit – when I was a volunteer police explorer scout ( affiliated with Boy Scouts of America) for three years as a teenager I was really secretly in training for the hitler youth? 70 year old volunteer Citizen patrol members you see in other towns are secret nazis getting ready to take over?
Maybe its time for you to up your meds or wrap another layer of tin foil around your head.
“To misunderstand the past and misapply it to the present is the domain of idiots” – unknown bar patron.
Being of sound mind and body, I think it is not necessarily inappropriate to be reminded of what happened in Germany during a difficult economic time in history.
According to most history books, documentation, record-keeping, etc. the meteoric Rise of The 3rd Reich came into being in just a couple of years.
Ultra-Nationalism started to spread; entire groups were scapegoated as the source of Germany’s problems; available money was dumped into their industrial military complex, race became a hot-button, more flag-waving occurred, more superiority over others became the norm, and eventually, the Aryan concept prevailed, Jews, other minorities, gays and gypsies became the sworn enemy of The Fatherland.
Any of this sound even remotely familiar?
Dr. Facts, now you’re talking to yourself … talk about incitefulness. but I see this sort of thing happening everywhere these days.
Most people do not see it for what it is, I have suspected it for some time, this latest fusillade of stirring the masses is calculated and overt.
Subtly pitting people’s emotions against others. While overtly soothing with just enough thoughtful sincerity to think you care about making things right, when it is in reality, that you want division.
A house divided will not stand very long.
Patriot, if you were talking about FEMA we might have some common ground. The bottom line is that MPLD got cut in half. The town is broke so the chief is asking for volunteer help. The town is not any less busy.
Patriot, it may not be a perfect program, but to compare it to Nazi Youth is absurd. Respectfully, you are full of hooey.
Ditto.
Benett
Down with women’s reproductive rights!
English is going to be our second language!
To hell with the spotted owls!
Gay people should not be allowed to marry!
A black person should never be president!
Don’t tax our millionaires!
Weapons of mass destruction are in Iraq – I just know they are!
God Bless (A Republican) America!
do i get a gun?
You get a special plastic one.
And that is only half full of water. Don’t want Ferdinand to drench the whole town.
You would put your eye out.