{"id":3592,"date":"2010-06-15T12:38:56","date_gmt":"2010-06-15T18:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=3592"},"modified":"2010-06-15T12:38:56","modified_gmt":"2010-06-15T18:38:56","slug":"police-dept-volunteers-mean-real-savings-to-hazelwoods-bottom-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=3592","title":{"rendered":"Police Dept. Volunteers Mean Real Savings to Hazelwood’s Bottom Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Special to the Independent News)<\/strong><\/p>\n

It wasn’t a real check, but the savings were indeed real to the City of Hazelwood.<\/p>\n

<\/em>The Hazelwood Police Department\u2019s Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS) unit presented a check for $301,000 to Mayor Matthew Robinson at a recent city council meeting to symbolize the amount of money it saved the city for donating time and services.\u00a0 This 25-member volunteer organization helps keep police officers on the street patrolling neighborhoods and protecting the citizenry.<\/p>\n

On average, these volunteers save the citizens of Hazelwood around $301,000 a year by donating 10,000 to 12,000 hours of their time on a yearly basis.\u00a0 \u201cWe came up with this figure by taking the average per hour cost of a police officer or department staff person and multiplying it by the number of hours provided by our volunteers. This symbolizes the amount of money we saved for the city,\u201d said Chief Carl Wolf of the Hazelwood Police Department.<\/p>\n

Wolf goes on to say that his department\u2019s VIPS is a tremendous asset to the organization, as well as to the City.\u00a0 \u201cUnder the police department\u2019s management, they will do anything in the city that anybody asks them to do.\u00a0 Our volunteers help set things up for municipal court, work in the records room, shred papers, and take cars to be fixed and brought back.\u00a0 They also take radios out of the squad cars to be repaired and then re-install them, and help out in the jail area.”<\/p>\n

Nationwide, more than 38,000 volunteers work within more than 700 police departments as part of Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS).\u00a0 The Hazelwood Police Department began its VIPS unit in 1996.<\/p>\n

Six Six years later, Sgt. Don Routh, Hazelwood\u2019s Neighborhood Action Team (N.A.T.) Supervisor, took the helm as supervisor and has been running this special volunteer group ever since.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the Hazelwood Police Department\u2019s VIPS received the \u201cOutstanding Volunteer Unit\u201d award from the IACP\/SAIC for its efforts the year before.\u00a0 And, last year, the group was featured in Volunteers in Focus<\/em>, a major publication produced by the national Volunteers in Police Service Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very proud of our department\u2019s volunteers because they all do it for the right reason, which is to help the City of Hazelwood,\u201d said Sgt. Routh.\u00a0 \u201cThey do everything ranging from coordinating school DARE program graduations to providing traffic control at City-sponsored events, and organizing Neighborhood\u00a0 Watch programs to manning the St. Louis Mills police substation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hazelwood Police Department\u2019s VIPS unit has had a positive impact on reducing the city\u2019s crime rate.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that our department\u2019s VIPS has allowed us to keep more police officers on the street.\u00a0 Hazelwood\u2019s crime rate from 2008 to 2009 went down 17 percent which, in part, can be attributed to the backup support provided by our dedicated volunteers,\u201d noted Wolf.<\/p>\n

In 2010, Sgt. Routh started a new statewide organization called Missouri Volunteers in Police Service (MoVIPS) to help police departments start their own volunteer units.\u00a0 Administered through the Missouri Police Chiefs Association Charitable Foundation, its goal is to adopt training standards and provide information on state legislation and liability issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Special to the Independent News) It wasn’t a real check, but the savings were indeed real to the City of Hazelwood. The Hazelwood Police Department\u2019s Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS) unit presented a check for $301,000 to Mayor Matthew Robinson at a recent city council meeting to symbolize the amount of money it saved the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hazelwood","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nPolice Dept. 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