Special recognition awards went out to Pleasanton residents involved in the Volunteers in Police Service Program (VIPS) through the Pleasanton Police Department Saturday, Aug. 19 at the Pleasanton Meadows Cabana Club.
The third annual recognition ceremony honored volunteers Geert Van Looy, Annette Langer, Dave Ker, Pam Yeaw, Jackie Woodruff, Don Clink and Bill Stimmerman, who gave up their time to promote safety throughout the community. Family, friends, police personnel and councilmembers Jerry Thorne and Steve Brozosky attended the event.
“They help us tremendously throughout the department,” said Sgt. Mike Elerick, who organizes the program for the Pleasanton Police Department. “As a group, they are outstanding. They get along very well and are great citizens that want to give back to the community.”
While the program started in 1999, Elerick said that it didn’t really come together until 2001. There are two areas: the administration program, which helps with fingerprinting and paperwork, and the patrol program, which makes up three-fourths of the volunteer force–the bulk of the VIPS program.
Van Looy received an appreciation plaque in honor of his five years of service and dedication to the program. As one of the program’s founding volunteers, Van Looy was in one of the first groups to patrol the Stoneridge Mall parking lots and created a uniform policy which included recommendations for volunteer badges.
The Special Recognition Award went to Langer who started a community fundraiser that provided ballistic vests for each of the three Pleasanton Police Department’s K9s. She provided 398 service hours, averaging more than 33 hours per month, despite ankle surgery and volunteering at other places like the Pleasanton Playhouse and Habitat for Humanity.
A new award, Co-Rookie of the Year, was given to two individuals: Ker and Yeaw. Ker joined the program in August of 2005, taking charge of the new Parking Enforcement and PMC Sign Violation programs. Yeaw was instrumental in helping to curtail the frequent problem of people parking their cars on Santa Rita Road in order to sell them.
Woodruff received the Administrative Service Award for assisting the Juvenile Diversion Coordinator, which focuses on getting first time juvenile offenders back on track. She also became a member of the Leadership Council and is responsible for overseeing and training the Administrative Volunteers. The Patrol Service Award went to Clink, who served 223 hours with the patrol program and 225 with the administration program. He worked as a field trainer to help new patrol volunteers entering the program within the last year.
The Volunteer of the Year, Stimmerman, retired from his paid career as a metal fabricator with BART to spend more time volunteering with VIPS. One of his greatest contributions is the recently termed “Bill’s Fleet,” for which he spent countless hours detailing the interiors and exteriors of police vehicles.
An estimated 80 guests came to show their appreciation for the volunteers, watching Chief Tim Neal award the seven individuals with a plaque and a special thermos decorated with the volunteer badge logo.
“They just want to help out,” Elerick said. “It’s amazing.”
