[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11169-11170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO VOLUNTEER CRIME FIGHTERS WITH CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Thurman) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. THURMAN. Mr. Speaker, tonight I would like to do a tribute to 
our volunteer crime fighters within the Citrus County Sheriff's Office 
under the leadership of Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsy.
  The Citrus County Sheriff's Office has one of the largest and most 
successful volunteer programs in the Nation. There are over 1,100 
volunteers working in just about every area of the Sheriff's Office. 
The county has volunteers driving in mobile crime watch units helping 
to keep the streets safe. The program includes volunteer bailiffs 
working the courts, volunteer dispatchers in the communications center, 
volunteer receptionists at community offices, as well as volunteers who 
fingerprint, assist in clerical duties and review pawnshop information.
  Stanley Wishin of Inverness has been working at the Floral City 
Elementary School through the GRAMPA program for the past five years. 
GRAMPA stands for Getting Retirees Actively Motivated to Policing 
Again. Prior to his volunteer work, Mr. Wishin served for 21 years as a 
police officer in New York City. He retired from duty and moved down to 
Florida with intentions of settling down, but he just could not stay 
away from community service. He quickly signed on at the Broward County 
Sheriff's Office for another 16 years of law enforcement service. Since 
his retirement, he has been actively involved with the Citrus County 
volunteer program, and he says he loves every minute of it.
  The GRAMPA program is a chance to put older and more experienced 
people directly in touch with the youth. Some of our most effective 
police officers are being lost in their prime to retirement. Mr. Wishin 
probably said it best when he said, ``You train them, you have them for 
25 years, and all of the sudden, you lose them. In my eyes that's wrong 
because you never let a good man go.'' The GRAMPA program is an 
excellent way to get our most experienced officers back into public 
service.

[[Page 11170]]

  Citizen volunteers work in every aspect of the Citrus County 
Sheriff's Office. James Karibo, for example, has been volunteering with 
the Sheriff'S Office for the past 4 years, working in various aspects 
of policing. Mr. Karibo drives for the citizens patrol and volunteers 
as a public service aid. He, and many others like him, take over some 
of the more mundane duties to free up deputies for other work. Mr. 
Karibo visits the elderly, works on crime investigations, helps with 
traffic patrols and minor accidents as well as other activities.
  The Citrus County Sheriff's Office has a very active Citizens' 
Academy program which allows ordinary citizens to learn more about the 
inner workings of the sheriff's department and feeds into their 
volunteer program. According to Sheriff Dawsy, ``The concept of the 
Citizens' Academy involves opening up the Sheriff'S Office to the 
public and showing citizens exactly what we do and how we do it.'' As a 
result, graduates of the 10-week course are better equipped to assess 
safety issues and share with others their knowledge of law enforcement 
practices and policies.
  Given Sheriff Dawsy's commitment to the philosophy of community-
oriented policing and proactive problem solving, he says he sees the 
Citizens' Academy as an effective way of bringing law enforcement and 
the public together in an informal, educational forum.
  The benefits of such a partnership can only strengthen the entire 
community in terms of public safety and quality of life. Last year 
alone, volunteers clocked in over 90,000 hours working for the 
betterment of the community. Volunteers drove 561,000 miles, made more 
than 44,000 house checks and assisted more than 3,400 citizens at 
community offices.
  Sheriff Dawsy and the Citrus County Sheriff's Office volunteers 
program have been an outstanding service to our community, and I would 
like to thank them all for their efforts. Their program is a model for 
others to follow, and I am honored to stand here and recognize them 
today. Congratulations to all of them on a job well done.

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