Extra set of eyes and ears

Vern Ward spent his 65th birthday setting up a speed radar trailer along a Post Falls road last Thursday.

Then he patrolled the Centennial Trail on a candy-apple red Yamaha Rhino all-terrain vehicle.

On his way to the trail with the wind whipping through his windbreaker, he pulled the Rhino behind a woman in an older-model Volvo. She had run out of gas.

Ward spent much of his life in the military and law enforcement, so when asked to coordinate the inaugural volunteer program at the Post Falls Police Department in 2004, the retiree proudly clipped on a radio and badge once again.

“When I first started, I worked, like, 40 hours a week,” he said. “It was like a full-time job.”

Ward was one of a handful of people who signed up for the Volunteer in Patrol program, one half of the Volunteers in Police Service program. Their duties include speed trailer and radar setup, traffic control, vacation and property watch, business checks, and Centennial Trail patrol.

“We’re an extra set of eyes and ears on the street,” he said.

Ward is in charge of the 11 current volunteers; most are in their 70s or 80s and have no law enforcement experience. Though the requirement is four hours a week, many put in 20 to 30 hours weekly.

The volunteers do not carry weapons and can’t give out tickets. If the volunteers stumble across a crime in progress or an automobile accident, they immediately call a regular police officer.

“If there is an armed robbery, we tell them to go the other way,” Ward said. “We don’t want to put them in harm’s way. We tell them, ‘When in doubt, just leave.’ ”

Ward has stumbled across an aggressive citizen who mocked his lack of authority at the department and noted that Ward wasn’t a “real officer.”

“I said, ‘Yeah, you’re right. But I can have an officer here in 30 seconds,’ ” Ward said.

Usually when you’re cruising around in a white Crown Vic with police lights, people still slow down, Ward said, even with “Post Falls Volunteer Patrol” painted on the side.

“We make ourselves visible because you never know if this car prevented a crime or not,” Ward said as he drove around Post Falls, the dispatcher’s voice cutting in though the radio. “We could be a deterrent.”

Ward stopped in front of a ranch house. The owners were away on vacation so one of the volunteers stopped daily to look over the property.

“Without the volunteers, there’d be a lot of things that wouldn’t get done,” he said, noting budget constraints and lack of staffing.

Although their duties are limited, the volunteers are treated like employees. They have access to computer records, which means the application process is “thorough.” Potential volunteers undergo background checks, fingerprinting and a polygraph test and spend 20 hours in field training with Ward.

Ward drove the Rhino off the trail, onto a grassy hill overlooking a dam. People often swim there in the summer until the volunteers advise otherwise.

Next summer, Ward would love to have a volunteer on the trails all the time, just talking to people.

Ward is in talks with the department to let the volunteers give out parking tickets.

Because most of the volunteers are older, most are content with not permanently joining the force, but Ward admits missing his full-time employee days.

“I’m chomping at the bit to pull people over,” he said.