Volunteers in Police Service – known as “VIPS”– are becoming an increasingly valuable asset to the Blue Springs Police Department and our community. A great example of community service is south Blue Springs resident and active Blue Springs Police Department volunteer Tom Echerd. Tom began his volunteer service with the department after graduating from the Blue Springs Citizen Police Academy on Nov. 5, 2008. Tom first came into contact with the department after several small crimes occurred in his neighborhood. Rather than sit back and let others take care of his concerns, Tom took the initiative to contact the department to see what he could do to help, and was invited to be a member of the first BSPD Citizen Police Academy. After the nine-week course, he understood that the department could use his help to make the community safer.
Tom attends regular training sessions where VIPS are trained in many aspects of administrative and time-consuming work that takes full-time police employees away from other tasks. VIPS have been trained in completing fingerprints for job applicants or liquor control licenses; have received instruction in completing vehicle tow reports, and in how to assist at DWI checkpoints. VIPS can receive basic self-defense training, assist with taking accident report information or work in the detention area to assist the police officers and the detention service officers as they book prisoners. VIPS can answer the TIPS Hotline to relieve dispatchers of that duty in busy time period.
Tom Echerd has gone above and beyond the call of duty in assisting the Blue Springs Police Department. He has designated Wednesday as his VIPS day and can be found in the Detective Unit assisting staff services secretary Macie Taylor with filing, data entry and anything else that needs done. Tom is familiar with firearms and has assisted the department firearms instructors with cleaning weapons, filing of paperwork and data entry for officer firearms qualification.
Tom is one of those rare individuals who is described as a “go-to guy.” If an opportunity to assist arises at the last minute he is willing to help and make himself available. The Crime Prevention Unit recently opened two Community Crime Prevention Offices, one at the Villas of Autumn Bend and the second at the Autumn Place Apartments. Tom immediately stepped up to help organize open houses for both and has become a regular liaison at the south office.
It is safe to say that Tom Echerd, and other volunteers like him, make the jobs of the staff easier and more productive while saving taxpayers’ dollars to be used in additional services to our community, and we are grateful for their help.
It wasn’t until the vandalism that Tom Echerd thought about the Blue Springs Police Department.
That was last year. His neighborhood, like many, was experiencing several acts of vandalism: cars broken into, smashed mailboxes, burglaries. Echerd himself replaced his mailbox several times last year, a reminder that regardless of where one lives, criminal acts are always possible.
After he filed a report, the police responded, establishing what would become a long and helpful relationship with the police department.
“When I was young, I wanted to be a police officer,” Echerd, 59, said. “I did all the paperwork to join the Kansas City department, as an auxilary, but there was a problem with my physical. My back. That kept me out.”
After devoting his life to Southwestern Bell, Echerd retired in December 1999. And like many retirees, he had time on his hand. When the neighborhood vandalism started in 2008, Echerd found himself thinking about police work again.
“It never crosses your mind how much work these guys put in.”
When the Blue Springs Citizen Academy started, Echerd was one of the first who joined. Coupled with his interest in the field and the acts of vandalism in his neighborhood, it was the perfect opportunity to satisfy an urge born years ago and a need to keep his neighborhood safe.
“It was an eye opener,” he said. “And when I finished it, I discovered there were several opportunities to volunteer at the department.”
With most days and nights open (unlike many volunteers), Echerd found himself working both in the Youth Services Department and within the detective unit. The detective unit was where the most help was needed, so he started there. And with a license to sell firearms, Echerd discovered that his services, his knowledge, were valuable.
He started learning how to take and file fingerprints, mostly for those applying for liquor licenses; he learned how to enter data into databases, fill out property reports and accident reports; he learned how to draft letters, or status reports, which he mailed to residents.
“The letters are meant to keep people on top of where their case stands,” he said.
And it wasn’t long until Troy Pharr, a detective, noticed him. He started utilizing Echerd’s skills and interests in the department’s armory, letting him clean and perform minor repairs on the equipment; letting him file and process weapons and ammunition. Just recently, Echerd was instrumental in helping the department phase out old weapons and ammunition for new equipment.
“He’s an important part of the department and very helpful,” Pharr said.
But it’s the paper work he completes and files that appears most helpful. In the past, officers were often called in off the streets to assist people as they filed reports.
“You realized that the officers should be on the street, doing their job, rather than coming in and doing reports,” Echerd said. “It’s mind boggling when you realize how much paperwork they have to do.”
In addition to writing reports, Echerd also helps in dispatch and at the newly created neighborhood watch offices at Autumn Place and Autumn Bend. In all, Echerd devotes as many as 15 hours at the department each week.
Echerd is one of 16 volunteers in the Volunteers in Police Services, an offshoot of the Blue Springs Police Department.
The coordinator of the department, Ed “Doc” Golden, said Echerd does a great job.
“He puts a lot of effort into what he does, and he’s very pleasant to work with,” Golden said, adding that the citizen’s police academy is becoming more and more the place where the department finds volunteers.
“Tom is one of five who came out of the academy who wanted to do more,” Golden said. “And there’s always a lot to do.”
So what more could Echerd possibly do for the department?
One thing at a time, please.
“I’m sure if there’s something, they’ll find it for me,” he said. “I’m enjoying it right now for what it is. This is the first time I’ve gotten involved in a volunteer way.”