Poway patrol recognized for Chelsea King efforts
The Poway Senior Volunteer Patrol will be receiving a meritorious unit award on Aug. 31 from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the first of its kind for the all-volunteer group.
The award ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. in the Bob Hope Theater at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar during the Sheriff’s annual presentations.
“We understand that it’s for our ‘teamwork and extraordinary’ efforts in searching for Chelsea King, the Poway High teen who was murdered Feb. 25 on a trail in Rancho Bernardo,” said SVP’s administrator, Frank Laughton.
Laughton said that the SVP, which is a volunteer group associated with the Sheriff’s Department, never dropped one of its regular patrols during the search for Chelsea.
Some pulled double shifts to pitch in at the search site in RB, he added.
Laughton recalls Capt. Todd Frank and Lt. Lori Ross from the Poway station, as well as that evening’s watch commander, making the determination, sending a message passed down to others in the station, including SVP members, letting them know, “She’s not a runaway.”
Volunteer Marie Allin remembers thinking to herself about King, “She’s one of our own.”
Then it became personal, she said. The realization of how serious a matter it was became a reality, Allin added.
Much of the training and experience that SVPs acquire in their roles of assisting local deputies, such as proper radio procedure, helped during the six-day search for King, Laughton said.
“I saw the anguish on Chelsea’s parents’ faces that first night (in RB),” he said. “It’s a look I never want to see again on anyone’s face.”
Laughton and the other volunteers are somewhat surprised to hear about the award, when so many other organizations also helped.
“We clearly didn’t expect to get recognized,” he said. “We’ll accept it, but it comes with a great deal of sadness, knowing a life was taken.”
Meanwhile, the SVP in Poway is searching for more volunteers to add to their current group of 28.
“My goal is to have about 40 members by the end of the year,” Laughton said.
The minimum age to join is 50, which was lowered a few years ago from 55 to attract more volunteers.
Volunteers receive two weeks of training and must commit to working at least seven hours a month.
From helping at accident scenes, patrolling malls and school areas, to checking on seniors who live alone, the tasks are almost as versatile as the volunteers themselves, said Laughton.
At 65, Liz Shade said she loves to check on seniors who participate in the You Are Not Alone program.
Shade and others get instructions about how often to check on a YANA’s well-being, either in person, or by phone.
“They seem to enjoy the company — and so do I,” Shade said.
“I worked as a grocery manager and loved meeting people,” Shade said. “When I retired, I was bored and wanted something to do.”
When she joined the volunteer patrol in January 2003, only four to five women were members, but gradually the ratio of women to men changed.
“Now, I tell those who are thinking about joining ‘women can do this job,’?” she said.
For details about joining, call Laughton at 858-232-8000.
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