The Foreign Service Journal, May 2016

the Foreign Service journal | may 2016 29 hospital or in jail. That’s where I come in. I do most of my work on the phone, contacting the complainant and finding out if the problem is ongoing or resolved and whether there is anything further the police department can do. The idea is to try to pre- vent domestic violence, rather than just respond to it. For example, I’ll connect the teenage son of an alcoholic with an Alateen group, the daughter of an aggressive dementia patient with a caregiver support circle, or the parents of a dif- ficult teenager with a family counseling service. If my inquiries suggest the domestic conflict is escalating, I’ll take my notes to one of the uniformed officers or detectives I work with for further action. Some of my cases are banal, some unbearably sad—espe- cially if children are involved—and a few are just downright weird. With every case, I prepare a brief written record. It may be used in court and must be clear, concise and factual. As in consular work, I’m often eliciting personal information from people who may be scared, defensive or embarrassed. I have to be patient and tactful. Raleigh isn’t the only American city with a police volun- teer program: Provo, Utah; Bellevue, Washington; Huntington Beach, California; Clearwater, Florida; and dozens of other American municipal and county law enforcement bodies have volunteer organizations. They tend to be found particularly in places that have embraced a “community policing” approach to law enforcement, as Raleigh has. Varied and Interesting Work Police volunteers aren’t cops. Although the City of Raleigh supplies our uniforms, we receive no financial benefit. Those uniforms are different from the uniforms of the sworn police officers with whom we work, and we have no more authority than any other citizen. Volunteers don’t carry weapons on duty, even if they have a permit to do so. We volunteers are, however, expected to look and act professional, be courteous to the pub- lic, respect confidentiality and use common sense. When I joined the RPD volunteer program, I received 30 hours of classroom training. I spent an afternoon in the 911 center, watching the dispatchers coolly respond to all sorts of emergencies. My initiation also included riding an evening shift with a patrolman in one of the rougher parts of Raleigh. Before the shift ended, we’d responded to a serious accident. Nobody was badly hurt, but untangling it all took hours. While the cops took statements and sorted out the resulting traffic jam, I got a broom from the trunk and swept up the broken glass and debris. Before my assignment to Family Violence, I worked in a burglary unit, helping detectives by making follow-up calls to victims: “Anything else turned up missing? Did your neighbors notice anything?” I’ve also walked a beat at parades, helped keep order at concerts—I once danced an exuberant drunk back to his seat—and role-played for police training scenarios. When I trained as a consular officer, I gained a lot of con- fidence practicing prison visits and visa interviews with role players at the Foreign Service Institute. As a police role player I’ve acted the part of rape victims, rioters and witnesses to crimes. In my least-favorite role I played a corpse, doused with fake blood and crumpled on the floor of an abandoned building among hundreds of dead cockroaches. That performance didn’t challenge my acting skills, but I did gain a close-up view of new police tactics as the officers rehearsed an “active shooter” response. Force Multipliers for the Community At the Raleigh Police Department, volunteers work in the records section, help with evidence storage, call shut-ins to check on their welfare, and provide extra manpower on special Ann Sides, left, and Heidi Priu, a former Secret Service agent, enjoy their work as volunteers with the Raleigh Police Department. COURTESYOFANNB.SIDES