Monday Merced Matters: Police volunteers are assets to city

“Volunteer” is not a word that Mike Raymond takes lightly. He knows firsthand all the hard work that goes into serving his community.

The 71-year-old Atwater man retired from the Merced County Sheriff’s Department in 1998 but said he soon became bored.

That’s when he decided to take his 30-plus years of experience in law enforcement and put it to use as a volunteer with the Atwater Police Department, where he’s been assisting since 2006.

Raymond is one of 11 volunteers helping the city out. His duties as a volunteer, he said, range from running errands to helping with traffic control. Volunteers also assist during city parades and other major events.

According to Raymond, who supervises the group, the volunteers do a little bit of everything except take emergency calls and make arrests.

“We try to do all the little stuff so the officers can do patrol,” Raymond said. “Our job is to free them.”

Raymond, a Madera native, started his career in law enforcement with the Merced Police Department. He said when he started working in 1965, he made about $411 a month. “That was a long time ago,” Raymond said with a chuckle.

He then moved on to serve as deputy for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, where he doubled his pay overnight, he said. But after learning that the air quality in the Inland Empire was harming his children’s health, he and his family returned to Merced.

After a stint with Riggs Ambulance Service, Raymond finished his career at the Merced County Sheriff’s Department, where he served in various positions from 1974 to 1998.

The reason he got into law enforcement, he said, could not be pinpointed to one specific motive or moment.

“Nothing was normal in the 1960s. You had the Vietnam War, you had protests going on … you had the Watts riots in Los Angeles. You name it, it was happening,” Raymond said. “(Law enforcement) just seemed like the right thing to do.”

Despite his extensive experience, Raymond said there is always something new he learns while doing volunteer work.

“It’s amazing what you run into and what you learn from simply talking to people in the neighborhoods,” he said.

Being a volunteer isn’t a job for everyone, Raymond said. Most of the volunteers are retirees – mainly because they are available during the daytime.

The work, however, requires active members, both physically and mentally, he said. There’s some lifting to do, and, on occasion, they must stand for several hours. Volunteers work between two or three days a week, depending on how much they are needed, he said.

Volunteers must also be prepared for anything. According to Raymond, there are easier days when they help out crossing guards and get friendly waves from children. But there are also days when they are called to help block off areas after a fatal collision.

Volunteers are known to sacrifice their weekends and holidays to lend a helping hand. For Raymond, who has already sacrificed many holidays during his career, the sacrifice is almost routine, he said.

Lt. Samuel Joseph with the Atwater Police Department said volunteers are important because they help officers with many of the time-consuming tasks.

“They free our time to focus on events that are priority,” Joseph said. “They really are a big help to us. (Raymond), for instance, is very knowledgeable.

“We’re lucky to have him,” he said.

Raymond said he does not plan to call it quits any time soon.

“I’ll stop the day I’m needed more at home than here,” he said. “I think I’ll be here for a little while longer.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2015 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Monday Merced Matters: Police volunteers are assets to city."