Abilene police launch volunteer program to support patrol and strengthen community ties скачать в хорошем качестве

Abilene police launch volunteer program to support patrol and strengthen community ties

The Abilene Police Department is launching a new volunteer program aimed at strengthening the relationship between APD and the community. RELATED | APD offers free training to prepare civilians for active shooter events KTXS spoke with Joshua Davis, Lieutenant over APD's Special Operations Division, about what the program will involve. "We'll have Police volunteers that are trained up in order to go out and assist patrol and kind of supplement some of their duties," Lt. Davis said. "To allow the patrol officers to handle in-progress calls or more dangerous calls." Lt. Davis said there will be an extensive background check for anyone who joins. RELATED | Abilene police responds to AISD bus collision at North 1st and Cedar The program is expected to include around 30 volunteers. "They'll go to different parts of town kind of wherever they're needed," he said. "Wherever the calls come in at for them to respond to. You know, if we have a burglary of a motor vehicle that's not in progress, where they can go and talk to the victim and take a report from them, and maybe just for some fingerprints, they'll be able to do that, and they'll be trained and all of that. That way it frees up, like I said, our officers to go and handle, you know, the in-progress robbery call or burglary or be proactive in their beat." Volunteers will complete at least 100 hours of training before getting started. "One question that we keep getting asked is, 'are they going to get a gun, a taser, pepper spray and all that stuff,'" he said. "They're not going to have any of that equipment. They'll have, you know, a belt with a radio and a flashlight and maybe some, other, you know, minor equipment, but they won't be directly. They won't directly be dealing with dangerous subjects." RELATED | Police looking for suspect in Abilene's first homicide of the year, victim identified KTXS asked: How is this program going to benefit APD and the City of Abilene? "We are working up our numbers of our sworn officers, staff, and we're getting very close to being where we want to be, but we're still short," Lt. Davis said. "And so having this group of people that can come in and augment even one day a month, will really help offset that. You know, filing reports, looking at different information to pass along to the officers." RELATED | Abilene sees rise in car thefts: 50 vehicles stolen with keys left inside Lt. Davis told us volunteers will have their own marked vehicles and a specific uniform. RELATED | Awareness, preparation and action are crucial parts of self defense They’ll also sit in on police briefings to learn what’s going on and build relationships with sworn officers. "It gives people a chance to see the inner workings of the police department and add value and to kind of call this police department their own at the same time," he said. Lt. Davis said APD is looking for volunteers 21 and older who have a heart to serve. You can apply by visiting the Abilene Police Department’s website. DETAILS: https://ktxs.com/news/local/abilene-p... Follow us on other social media: KTXS News on Facebook   / ktxstelevision   KTXS News on X https://x.com/KTXS_News KTXS News on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ktxsnews/?h... For more information, visit https://ktxs.com/ Have a news tip? Send it to us at news@ktxs.com #volunteer #police #strength