Metro gives call to citizen army

Karen Zekan

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

In the eyes of Metro Police, community support is invaluable when it comes to getting the job done.

And it's along those lines that the newly launched Metro Volunteer Program will be known -- MVP.

Like the most valuable player distinction widely known in sports. Because, Metro organizers say, volunteers are the backbone of the community.

Sheriff Jerry Keller officially unveiled the program's tri-colored logo Tuesday -- the image of a golden sheriff's star behind a background of red and blue highlighting the words "Metro Volunteer" and "MVP."

"When we talk about community programs, we're really talking about quality of life," Keller said. "This program will ensure and maintain our commitment of partnership within the community."

Larry Baxter, a Metro crime prevention specialist, developed the MVP program over the past eight months upon the sheriff's recommendation to get the community involved, Baxter said.

Various businesses and groups have donated their services to help get the program off the ground cost-free to taxpayers. The only real cost to the department, Baxter said, will be the official MVP shirts volunteers will wear on their shifts.

Each section will pay for its volunteers' shirts -- money which has already been set aside in their budgets, Baxter said.

A few dozen volunteers, many of them graduates of the department's citizen's academy, have been donating their time the past few months as "guinea pigs" so organizers could hammer out the most efficient system.

Currently, two volunteers with prior firearms instruction experience are volunteering at Metro's range. One person is helping sort and clip news articles in the public information office. Several others are working in the detective bureau to assist with filing, research and computer work.

Metro's volunteer program won't be the first in the nation. Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has a whopping roster of 4,000 volunteers. San Diego Police Department has close to 1,200 citizens involved. Tempe, Ariz., has almost 400 people lending a hand. Orange County Sheriff's Department boasts an ever-increasing support staff for its community elders enlisted as RSVPs -- Retired Service Volunteer Patrol.

Baxter hopes to see MVP expand to 800 volunteers within the next two years, and plans to open up spots behind substation front counters and within the department's various sections.

Details handling more sensitive or classified issues, like vice and narcotics, are among the few which will be off-limits to the citizen corps.

Baxter is hoping to attract a diverse crowd -- college students, skilled professionals, even senior citizens. They'll be issued little else beyond their official MVP shirt and handbook (no badges, no guns). Yet organizers say citizens' support will go a long way toward helping the community.

"We don't need extra hands," Baxter said. "We need extra partnerships."

Applications for volunteer service within Metro are available at the Plaza Desk at Las Vegas City Hall and all five substations. For more information, or to have a form delivered by mail, call 229-3507.