RANCHO BERNARDO SENIORS HAVE BEEN ASSISTING S.D. POLICE FOR 30 YEARS
Volunteer patrol has inspired similar programs to form
RANCHO BERNARDO
For 30 years, a group of retired seniors in Rancho Bernardo have been not only assisting the San Diego Police Department with a multitude of tasks, but serving as role models to similar groups worldwide.
“We have been a model across the U.S.,” said Bob Walder, administrator for the Rancho Bernardo Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol, as current and former RSVP members gathered June 15 in the Rancho Bernardo Library’s community room to celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary.
Joining them were spouses, family members and representatives from the San Diego Police Department.
“No matter with what or where, San Diego Police Department understands we
help its officers do their jobs,” Walder said. “We are extra eyes and ears for the Police Department.”
RSVP members keep on the lookout for potential criminal activity, cruising in specially marked patrol cars throughout the community to deter crime and assisting with traffic control at crash scenes.
The volunteers also patrol through bank and school parking lots and can often be found fingerprinting children at community events so parents have the prints in case their children get lost.
They also conduct disabled parking enforcement and help with community events like parades and street fairs. Members are also called in to help during evacuations, wildfires and other emergencies.
In addition, volunteers visit shut-in seniors enrolled in the You Are Not Alone (YANA) program and conduct free vacation house checks. Some take files from the Northeastern Division’s headquarters in Rancho
Peñasquitos to SDPD headquarters in downtown San Diego and provide assistance to officers during investigations.
All those services are provided to the community for free.
“Thank you for your service,” Capt. Mike Holden of SDPD’s Northeastern Division said during the celebration. “Your group means a lot to the station, and what you do is fantastic. We are short-staffed, so that makes you all that more important to us.”
The organization was the idea of San Diego police Officer Fred Wilson and implemented on a six-month experimental basis in Rancho Bernardo, under the guidance
of Bob Smith, whose photo was on display during the celebration.
Five years ago, Wilson told the Rancho Bernardo News Journal that his idea was to form a group of retirees that would help police and, in doing so, increase communication between police and those they served.
“I wanted seniors to interact with the police and figured the way to make (that interaction) legitimate was to have a defined goal,” Wilson said in 2017.
Wilson said he chose to form it in Rancho Bernardo because of its demographics — he was familiar with the community as an SDPD community relations officer and his mother lived in its Seven Oaks neighborhood.
The success of the Rancho Bernardo group led to an expansion of members’ tasks, similar units formed in other SDPD divisions, and soon other law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. and in other countries were contacting SDPD to find out how they could start a similar program.
From its founding in June 1992 through the end of 2021, those in the Rancho Bernardo RSVP unit donated more than 459,126 hours and completed over 8,000 patrols in the community, Walder said.
The first RSVP class in 1992 had 21 members. Since then it has grown into one of the largest and most successful volunteer programs in the nation, Walder said.
The San Diego Police Department has fewer than 1,900 paid officers. But there are almost 600 volunteers among its Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol, Volunteers in Policing, Crisis Intervention, Police Reserves and Police Cadets programs, he said. Together, these volunteers donate more than 170,000 hours annually throughout the city.
At the 30th anniversary celebration, Vern Bowman, Christy Bonner, Regina Neves and Shem Clow were presented clocks in appreciation for their more than five years of service.
Clocks were also given to Sue Gupta, Chris Bodle,
Joyce Miller and Gary Goldberg for continuing to check on the seniors enrolled in the YANA program during the pandemic.
“They would take them shopping or go shopping for them, they made sure they were OK,” Walder said. “Their service to our YANAs was absolutely amazing.”
The city put the RSVP program on hiatus because of the pandemic. It closed in mid-March 2020 and did not resume until August 2021.
When Rancho Bernardo RSVP celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017, it had 28 active members, among the 267 who had participated during its first quarter-century. Now it is down to 10 active members. It will soon lose another member, who is moving to Arizona.
“Recruitment is so difficult,” Walder said. “It is due to the pandemic, the lockdown and still, for some, our connection with the Police Department.”
“Some folks think it is dangerous,” said Rancho Bernardo RSVP member Gee Silberman. “Those who
are older say yes, but their kids say no.”
Silberman said RSVP members are never confrontational with someone when, for example, they are writing a ticket for a parking violation. If confronted by the violator they just give a warning, unlike a police officer who would issue the ticket. They also never carry a weapon.
San Diego police Sgt. Jerry Owens, who is in charge of the department’s volunteer services, said the RSVP members provide valuable assistance.
“They are an essential part,” Owens said, explaining that volunteers notify the department of potential crimes. “They do not enforce, but observe and report.”
Christine Bodle, who joined Rancho Bernardo RSVP in 2019, said she has always seen RSVP members in the community and viewed it as a good way to volunteer.
“There is a camaraderie I like, and we are helping people,” Bodle said. “I love talking with the elderly YANAs.”
Howard Powell, a Rancho Bernardo RSVP member since 2018, said that after his retirement he was looking for something to do in the community.
“I like all aspects, but visiting the YANAs gives me a feeling that I am doing something right,” Powell said.
Because of the member shortage, Rancho Bernardo RSVP has not been able to reopen its storefront on the upper level of the Rancho Bernardo Library. Walder said one of his goals is to recruit enough volunteers to resume storefront hours. Information on its services is displayed outside its door.
RSVP members must be 50 or older, be semi- or fully retired, have a valid California driver’s license and be available for patrol a minimum of three days per month. They must also pass a background check and have no felony convictions. Volunteers receive extensive training. For details, call Walder at (858) 518-6882.