Giving peace of mind during time away

Deepa Bharath

Bob Kost has been a volunteer with the Newport Beach Police

Department for four years.

But never in all these years has he heard so many thank yous and

kind words of appreciation, he said.

Kost and several other Police Department volunteers are getting

trained in doing home inspections or “vacation checks” that were

originally done by sworn police officers. It is a service the

department provides to community members who ask police to keep an

eye on their homes when they are out of town.

Officers, on a daily basis, would check the perimeter of the home

and make sure everything was as it should be.

But of late, volunteers are performing that task and it has worked

very well for the department, Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

“Sometimes, officers were not able to do it because of time

constraints,” he said. “And in these tough economic times, when many

departments are facing job cuts, this is a very valuable program that

has helped us increase our level of service to the community.”

All volunteers undergo training and are taught what to look for

when they go on these inspections, Shulman said.

“But they are not geared for enforcement,” he said. “So if they

see anything suspicious, they back off and call a uniformed officer.”

The program has also saved a lot of time for sworn officers and

has helped them focus on other issues, Shulman said.

“Particularly in summer time, we have an increase in residential

burglaries and thefts because people are away from their homes,” he

said.

Kost said he believes the service is an asset to the community.

“The thing that amazes residents most is when we do the check and

then call them about it,” he said. “They just don’t expect that.

They’re just ecstatic that we care enough to call.”

Volunteers usually get a list of homes that they go over to

inspect, Kost said.

“We check the front and back, windows and doors and see if

anything’s amiss,” he said. “If we find newspapers lying around, we

pick them up and stash them some place they can’t be seen.”

Kost said the program has also done great things for the Police

Department’s image in the community.

“It shows we’re not just handing out tickets and punishing

people,” he said. “We’re also helping them.”

FYI:

If you’d like your home inspected when you’re away, call the

Newport Beach Police Department at (949) 644-3717.