Sheriff David Gee Honors Citizen Patrol Volunteers From Brandon

Having logged more than 42,000 volunteer hours since its inception, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has one of the most successful Citizen Patrol groups in the state.

Sheriff David Gee was at the Falkenburg Road Jail Assembly Room on March 12 to present awards to local volunteers who have logged more than 200 hours of service this past year. The banquet recognized some special honorees, including Citizen Patrol Coordinator of the Year Lorraine Jordan.

"This is the hardest job I've ever done," Jordan said. "Putting all this together has been so special for me. You get so attached to some of these people. You get to work with so many different personalities, from retired CEOs to airline pilots to cardiologists. Managing it all is a challenge, but tonight is an emotional night for me because it's been so great working with these people."

Gee echoed Jordan's sentiments and recognized how much the Citizen Patrol program has done for the sheriff's office by allowing his deputies to worry about serious police work.

"The program has grown by leaps and bounds," Gee said. "We started in just two areas of the county. Now we're in five, with a volunteer group in each district. Last year, the volunteers were trained to write handicap parking citations, which has resulted in 992 citations and warnings. What this does for us is big when it comes to manpower, and this year we will be reaching out to volunteers to help us with DUI checkpoints and seat belt enforcement."

Brandon resident and Citizen Patrolman Dwayne Denny got his start in the Bloomingdale patrol but has moved to Brandon since it became available. Denny said he is enjoying the relationship it has created between him and the community.

"I like volunteering in Brandon because you get to interact with a lot of business owners and different types of people," Denny said. "This program is great because you can give back to the community without having to wear a gun and a badge and deal with hardened criminals."

Denny was the recipient of an Outstanding Citizen Patrol award for his work installing security cameras for free at the Bloomingdale Citizen Patrol headquarters, where several patrol cars were vandalized last year.

"My wife owns a company that does camera systems, so when we heard that the cars were broken into and vandalized my wife stepped up and donated the cameras and I installed them," Denny said. "We were able to provide them security, which was something that we felt good about."

For Brandon's Robert Owens, a retired computer programmer, the past year of Citizen Patrol hasn't felt like 200 hours of work. He sees the volunteering with the HCSO as the perfect supplement to his volunteer work with the Red Cross disaster assistance teams.

"I had to check because I didn't believe it had been 200 hours," Owens said. "I chose to be involved with this because it's sort of a yin and yang of volunteer work between this and what I do with Red Cross. One helps out when people are in serious distress and the other has to write handicap parking citations to help out the community every day."

In Bloomingdale, team leaders Elaine Sellent and Kathy Samuelson celebrated their fifth anniversary as Citizen Patrol members. Over the years, the pair has seen the amount of responsibility increase as they've proven themselves capable of handling more than just a radio.

"We've shown that as volunteers we can handle a lot of things that keeps the deputies on the streets handling serious crime," Sellent said. "We really have the respect of the deputies who are happy to see us when we get out to help with traffic or do a special event. They love us and I think that is one of the things that have made this so special."

Samuelson, like Denny, was the recipient of an award as the volunteer who works the most hours while being employed full time. Despite her job and personal life, Samuelson has logged 468 hours as a volunteer.

"The hours just happen," Samuelson said. "It's not like you say I'm going to make it to 400 hours, you just end up doing it. The more time you're out there, the better your skills get and the more you realize the ways you can help."