The Emporia Gazette

May 27, 2012

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On April 2, the Senior Patrol of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office will officially hit the street.

The Senior Patrol, co-sponsored by the sheriff’s office and the Lyon County Department on Aging, is a program that allows retired citizens to help with some sheriff duties. There are about 18 people who have completed the training program and are getting ready to hit the streets or help in and around the sheriff’s office.

Wednesday afternoon, the group met for a get-to-know-you meeting and a short briefing session. They will meet again March 28 to wrap things up before they hit the streets of Lyon County.

Sheriff Deputy Pat Stevenson said members of the Senior Patrol will have several duties both inside and outside the walls of the sheriff’s office. Around the county, members of the Senior Patrol will do routine home checks when people are on vacation, will keep a watchful eye on critical infrastructure in the county such as electrical and gas plants and will watch for stalled motorists.

“Mainly just being visible in Lyon County,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson said the indoor responsibilities could include issuing and filing burn permits, serving in the kitchen, doing some clerical work such as charting mileage on cars and gas usage and even helping out the department of Emergency Management.

Each member of the Senior Patrol will work up to a four-hour shift and will work between sunup and sundown, Stevenson said.

“In the community there will be more consistency in home checks,” Stevenson said. “Although we do our best to get to those, sometimes they can’t get done. It’s going to be another unit on the road, another eye in the sky.”

There are benefits for sheriff’s deputies as well.

“It will take some weight off of the shoulders of deputies and administration,” Stevenson said.

So far in the training, the group has covered ways to do home checks and tactical ways to approach a stalled car. They have received training on how to work police radios as well, where to get fuel and how to turn the lights on the squad cars.

Senior Patrol members will have ID badges and navy blue shirts that will identify them as being a part of Senior Patrol. They will drive patrol cars for now, Stevenson said.

For those who go out in Lyon County in squad cars, they will go in pairs, Stevenson said. A.J. and Ida Schierling of Emporia plan to go out together. They’ve been married for 47 years this year.

“It sounded interesting,” Ida Schierling said. “Plus we’re retired and we have time.”

Darlene and Patrick Buck of Emporia also plan to volunteer together and have been married for 45 years this year.

“It will help free up the sheriff department for more important things,” Darlene Buck said. “And like everybody else, we have a lot of time.”

A.J. Schierling said the program sounded interesting.

“We thought how much time we have available,” Schierling said. “It’s a volunteer program and we thought this would be more interesting.”

Darlene Buck agreed.

“We were kind of interested in doing something different,” she said.

Harriet Emley of Emporia also joined the Senior Patrol.

“I retired and I just thought I needed something to do a few hours,” Emley said. “I saw this in the paper and one thing led to another and I’m here. I was afraid I was going to get bored and decided to volunteer.”

Emley said she is looking forward to hitting the streets.

“Just driving around and seeing the countryside,” she said. “See how authorities do their job.”