More volunteers train for Public Safety Unit
The second installment of volunteers for McMinnville’s Public Safety Unit is in training, city officials announced Monday.
New candidates for the unit began training yesterday and will receive several hours of training before they can go to work performing non-critical activities formerly relegated to certified police officers, Mayor Royce Davenport said. This training cycle will consist of 14 hours of classroom training and 12 hours of training in the field.
Members of the Public Safety Unit now assist with funeral processions, work security at the Civic Center and city parks and provide traffic control as opposed to having a police officer assigned to perform such tasks. Officials indicated they couldn’t be more pleased with how the unit is functioning.
McMinnville Police Department Captain Bryan Denton said the first group of volunteers has performed well despite early concerns to the contrary.
“There was a little bit of skepticism, even in the department, and even some outside of the department,” he said of early reaction. All that has changed, however, as the unit has been touted as a success.
“The key is we got some really good people in. They took it seriously and they’ve just done really well – 99 percent of the comments we’ve had have been positive,” Denton said.
Davenport noted the potential for certified officers to be more effective in responding to serious situations like domestic violence calls if they don’t have to always transition themselves between emergency and non-emergency situations.
Denton agreed and noted constant change is the nature of police work.
“One minute, you’re going down the road observing traffic and the next call, there may be an aggravated assault call or a domestic,” he said. “With the Public Safety Unit, we try to gear them towards the things they can do as non-certified officers.”
Denton added Public Safety Unit volunteers have really helped out in the area of funeral processions. Several years ago, the city briefly debated suspending the practice of providing funeral escorts.
Denton said providing the service can take up to 45 minutes and that instead of tying up certified officers’ time, providing funeral escorts is something easily handled by members of the unit.
The idea of creating a volunteer unit to assist police has been on the table for the past few years. It became possible after the city obtained a federal grant of $36,000 last June for equipment, with the city matching some funds.
The first group of volunteers, including Lester Cowell, Norman Elrod, Gail Campbell, Tommy Adams, Ed Yager and Allen Jaco, completed training in October 2003. Davenport said the group currently in training is likely to be the last group to be considered for the unit for the next several months.