LAGUNA BEACH : Wanted by Police: Senior Volunteers

The Laguna Beach Police Department is launching a program to enlist senior citizens in jobs such as traffic control, clerical work and graffiti removal.

The Retired Senior Volunteer Program, or RSVP, which was unanimously endorsed by the Laguna Beach City Council, is intended to increase seniors’ involvement in their community, capitalize on their skills and experience and save the city money.

“We are very excited about this program,” Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. told the council. “We think it will be a real benefit to our senior citizen community and also an overall benefit to our community in general.”

A report to the council said the Police Department is planning “an extensive recruitment program” to enlist volunteers 55 and older and will train them in police-related jobs, including vacation house checks, fingerprinting and Neighborhood Watch duties.

Purcell said the volunteers need not be from Laguna Beach but should live in the area.

The volunteers will not carry weapons or make arrests but will serve as additional “eyes, ears and helping hands” for the department, the report says.

A growing number of other Orange County cities have begun such programs.

Participants will be required to join the national RSVP, a federally funded organization that provides the seniors with additional automobile, injury and liability insurance at no cost to them.

The report said the cost to the city for workers’ compensation insurance and some supplies would be minimal compared to an overall “savings of thousands of dollars each year” that would be gained from having such volunteers on duty.

Council members praised the effort.

“I applaud this program,” Councilwoman Kathleen Blackburn said. “I believe it will be very successful.”

San Clemente established the first RSVP unit in Orange County eight years ago, in response to budget cuts that resulted from Proposition 13. Other cities that have such programs include Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Irvine, Tustin, Dana Point and Yorba Linda.