Hemet Police Welcomes New Volunteers
Class # 40 Graduates 19 New Volunteers
The Hemet Police Department is proud to announce the graduation of its 40th Basic Volunteer Academy. On June 12th, (19) Hemet area residents completed their initial six weeks of training. From there, they will be assigned to veteran volunteers for further training and assignments. Graduating with the group was another Hemet Police Department college intern; Arnino Vicente. Arnino is a student at Mt San Jacinto College and is completing an internship at Hemet Police Department for college credits and work study experience.
Following this graduation, the Hemet Police Department Volunteer Force will be nearly 100 strong. The program was started in 1993 under then-police Chief Milton ‘Lee’ Evanson and Sergeant Charles Steadman (ret).
Steadman was in attendance for the graduation and spoke to the group about how that first academy class started. Steadman said that he was proud of what the Volunteer Program has grown to be and thanked those who have dedicated their time to such a worthy cause. Hemet’s City Manager, Ron Bradley and Councilwoman Linda Krupa also attended the event with Linda pointing out to the group the importance of the volunteer program to the City of Hemet and its community. She made it a point to congratulate the Hemet Police Volunteers for dedicating over 30,000 hours (at a value of over $735,000.00) in 2012 alone.
This class was sworn in by Chief of Police David Brown in front of approximately 125 family members, friends, and veteran volunteers at the Simpson Center in Hemet; where all of this initial training took place. A partnership was formed with Valley Wide Recreation last year. Valley Wide currently runs the Simpson Center following the transfer from the YMCA.
On any given day or night, Hemet Police Volunteers can be seen assisting citizens at Hemet PD’s three stations, speaking to civic groups, patrolling neighborhoods, shopping centers & parks, starting Neighborhood Watch programs, performing traffic control at collisions and during natural disasters, babysitting lost children, helping Alzheimers patients, and they have become staples at such events as The Ramona Play, Hemet’s Annual Christmas Parade, Harvest Festival, Veterans Day Celebration, and much, much more.
The Hemet City Council, as well as Police Department Employees, have long recognized our volunteers for their endless dedication to the community. If you would like information on becoming a Hemet Police Department Volunteer, please stop by any of the three stations, by calling Sergeant Nate Miller at 951 765-2406, or via e-mail: nmiller@cityofhemet.org