Carol McDonald

June Casagrande

The Newport Beach Police Department has a secret weapon. And if

other police agencies aren’t jealous, they should be.

Carol McDonald is every police department’s dream: a volunteer who

can do just about anything, and who really wants to, from playing

Mrs. Claus on helicopter school tours to stocking police cruisers

with flares and herding animals for the city’s “Pick A Pet” program.

“She’s incredibly giving,” Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman

said, adding that McDonald racks up nearly 300 hours a year

volunteering for the department.

McDonald, a retired Newport Beach resident, was the second person

to graduate from the city’s 3-year-old Citizens Police Academy. The

program matches volunteers with tasks in civilian law enforcement.

And for McDonald, this meant a lot of opportunities to have a lot of

fun.

“This is probably the most fun thing I’ve ever done,” McDonald

said. “Sometimes, I just can’t wait to get there in the morning.”

In her three years as a volunteer, McDonald has continued to add

to her resume of valuable skills and experience that she shares with

the Police Department for free. She is a tour guide for groups

visiting the Police Department headquarters, she works with the Drug

Abuse Resistance Education program, she takes part in citizen

patrols, she plays Mrs. Claus on the helicopter that carries her and

Santa to all Newport-Mesa Unified schools each year -- she even does

a little cleaning of the police cars while she’s in there stocking

supplies.

“You never know what you’re going to see when you open the trunk

of one of those cars,” she said, adding that her discoveries are

never anything more incriminating than the occasional stale French

fry.

McDonald, a retired teacher in the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District and in other West Coast schools, said she found the

volunteer work after working on her own Neighborhood Watch program

for 17 years. When the Police Department announced its citizens

academy, McDonald was quick to sign up.

“It was a pretty natural transition from what I was doing,” she

said.

It’s not for everyone, she said, but for people who like police

work, it’s a great way to put your talents to use.

“Not everybody can enjoy what we do,” she said, “but for people

like me, it’s just a great gig.”