On the case at 90

Every Friday morning, Lou Zimmerman gets in his car, drives to Huntington Beach police headquarters and does a few hours of desk work for the detectives.

It may seem simple, but it’s a lot harder for a man who shuffles along in a walker and is weeks from turning 90.

The detectives’ bureau front desk is a place Zimmerman has been a fixture of for more than a decade, sorting cases as they come in and sending them off to the proper officers.

Having worked there since he was in his 70s, Zimmerman remembers sergeants and lieutenants from when they were rookie cops. He even remembers a Huntington Beach city councilman from his days as a desk officer.

“I was in there on Christmas Day picking up cases, because I knew my wife would be busy,” he said. “And this officer comes up and says, ‘What in the world is this volunteer doing here on Christmas?’ Well, that officer was [Councilman] Gil Coerper — he’s a good guy.”

Zimmerman said he heard about the program from a neighbor mere days after it started, and he signed up as soon as he could for what turned out to be the second class of volunteers.

“We were 60 days behind the first class,” he said.

Zimmerman worked as a regular senior volunteer for about a year, doing house checks and similar low-risk work out in the field, but after enough time talking to officers, he finagled his way into a position at the detectives’ front desk.

“I think I was the first one to graduate to bigger things,” he said. “They were all just experimenting back then, and nobody knew where it would go.”

Zimmerman isn’t the only senior volunteer at the department, said Nilda Patiño de Berndt, who oversees community programs for the department. Many retirees do low-level patrol work as part of the city’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program, and many recently got awards for their hours of service, she said.

But Zimmerman is a special case, someone who just keeps coming back and has made a place for himself in the department, she said.

“He has all his wits about him, and he still wants to contribute back to the community. He comes in when he can, even though he can’t drive nights anymore.”

Zimmerman turns 90 on July 10, but he said his work at the station will continue.

“I like this place,” he said. “These guys here are just so great. It’s a really good bunch.”

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes. com.