Bellevue Police Honors Its Volunteers

The held its 17th annual volunteer appreciation luncheon at on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

This event celebrates the contributions and accomplishments of citizens who volunteer yearly, performing a wide range of support assignments throughout the Police Department. There are currently 43 volunteers in the program who have worked over 6,300 hours (labor dollars equivalent of $137,000) already in 2011. Their service enables officers to focus on primary law enforcement duties and allows the Department to maintain services that it otherwise wouldn’t have the resources to provide.

This year’s honored volunteers receiving service awards are;  Pat Reams, Don Riggs, Marilyn Campbell, Harry Masters, Bill Donovan, Betsy Gruber, Ann Mattiello, Fred Cacchione, Bill Swanson, Jim Swanson, Shams Shamsuddin, Gerry Katt, Susan Allen, Bob Herschkowitz, Dean Snyder, Bill Pavitt,  Ashlie McConnell, Suzi O’Byrne, and Don Erickson.

Some of the volunteers’ accomplishments this past year included; contacting victims of credit card/bank account fraud to clear a multi-year backlog of several hundred cases that can now be closed, shuttling police vehicles for  maintenance and installation of new equipment, issuing nearly 400 disabled parking violations, assisting nearly 6000 citizens at the and , and assisting with planning, organizing and staffing several community events throughout the year.

These volunteers have earned the respect and appreciation also from the business community. Businesses participate in this luncheon event by donating gift certificates that are given as door prizes.  This year’s donors included;  The , and restaurants, Argosy Cruises, , and .

Also in attendance at the luncheon were: Deputy Mayor Conrad Lee, City Manager Steve Sarkozy, Police Chief Linda Pillo and several of her command staff. Pillo stated, “I want to thank all volunteers for their service to the police department and community: and to the businesses for their generous support to our volunteers”. 

-- Information from the Bellevue Police Department