Bellevue Police Honors Its Volunteers This Week With Virtual Firearms Training, More

The following information is from the Bellevue Police Department:

To celebrate our volunteers during National Volunteer Week, Bellevue Police Department is making available to them the following opportunities:

Mon., April 16 - Public Safety Training Center 

Demonstration of bomb disposal, including operation of the bomb disposal robot

Tues., April 17 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. and Wed., April 18 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – City Hall

VirTra (virtual firearms training) simulator, experience live action tactical situations

Tues. April 17 9:00 a.m. and Thurs. April 19 1:00 p.m. – City Hall

Forensic Lab tour and demonstrations of fingerprint evaluation

Since 1994, Bellevue Police volunteers have served in excess of 167,000 hours, equivalent to more than $3.5 million in labor value. In 2012, volunteers contributed over 8,000 hours working a wide range of assignments throughout the Department. Volunteer Police programs enable expanded services like operation of the Crossroads and Factoria police community stations, pick-up and processing of found bicycles, and disabled parking and fire lane enforcement, which frees officers to focus on proactive law enforcement activities. There is remarkable stability and commitment from the volunteers, attributed to the respect of the department employees.

 “These volunteers are here week after week, year after year and we consider them to be part of our police family just like any other staff member, maybe even more so because they are here without benefit of a paycheck. They are here simply because they believe in the Department’s mission and want to support the work our officers do, and our officers truly appreciate that,” states Marji Trachtman, Bellevue Police Volunteer Coordinator.