Shortage has police looking for volunteers

Chula Vista’s police officers and firefighters aren’t the only public safety group with a staffing dilemma.

The Senior Volunteer Patrol, part of the police department’s traffic division, has faced a staffing shortage for several years.

SVP Lt. Bob Mains joined the volunteer organization nearly five years ago.
At that time, he said, there were about 65 seniors on staff.

Today there are about 50 people on the team, he said.

“The losses have really been through attrition,” Mains said in explaining the staffing decline.

Mains said to ideally be considered fully staffed, SVP needs to operate with 75 people, that’s 15 more non-sworn officers than are currently on patrol.

The passage of Measure A in June will be used to hire more police and fire personnel to bring staffing levels up to par with the rest of the county.

Since SVP is a volunteer-based group they won’t see any Measure A money and have to resort to putting out a call for volunteers in an effort to meet its staffing needs.

The SVP team consists of seniors who are 50 and older tasked with a slew of responsibilities such as assisting Chula Vista police officers with non-critical and non-hazardous duties.

Those duties include parking enforcement, citing people for illegally parking in handicap zones and fire lanes/hydrants, and giving tickets to drivers who exceed the time limit in a timed parking zone. They also give tickets for expired license plates. In addition, they do graffiti documentation and welfare checks.

In the past two-and-half- years, Mains said SVP officers have put in nearly 28,000 volunteer hours, handled 9,000 abatement calls and given out 4,600 parking citations.
Mains, a 24-year Navy veteran, said they seek people from various backgrounds. He said currently there are former military personnel on staff as well as retired teachers and accountants.

Mains is also a former soccer referee and an ex-member of his homeowners association board of directors. He said this is evidence SVP seeks people of all backgrounds and they must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident.

He said no law-enforcement experience is needed to be an SVP officer and they do not carry any weapons.

If interested in becoming an SVP officer, call the SVP office at (619) 476-2417 or visit the Chula Vista police station.