A new citizen police volunteer program has been developed by the city of Covington in order to provide more community services such as a vacation check.

According to Covington Police Chief Kevin Klason, the idea of a volunteer program has floated around for some time, but was constrained by a limited staff.

“We finally got to the point where we’re making the time,” Klason said. “With our parks that are coming online more and with the new park (we need) another set of eyes and ears to keep tabs on what’s going on. We though it was a good time to implement it.”

The program is designed to carry out duties which the department would like to perform such as city park patrols and house checks while people are on vacation. Cities such as Maple Valley currently have a vacation check program in place.

Klason stated it will initially be a “pilot program,” with a limited number of volunteers, as well as a narrow set of responsibilities.  The volunteers will not have any law enforcement authority, according to Klason, who said they will act as “eyes and ears” to report suspicious behavior or activity.

If accepted, a part of the training will consist of learning what to look for when determining potential illegal activity, as well as observations to make that can later be provided to police should a crime occur such as a suspect’s weight, height and clothing. The volunteers will use city vehicles and wear safety vests to identify themselves.

Klason said they hope to eventually have the volunteers assist with Covington Days Parade, National Night Out and other services such as neighborhood crime watch, graffiti and vandalism prevention. Additionally, an expanded program would have volunteers assist officers at the station filing paperwork or answering police-related questions.

“As the program goes along we have enough staffing to give it the proper oversight we’ll extend it and hopefully pick up the load citizens would like to have and we just don’t have the time to do,” he said.

Aside from Klason, Covington has 10 patrol officers, one traffic officer and one detective.

To volunteer, a person must be 18 years or older. Training will include a review of the Covington Volunteers Handbook, use of city-owned vehicles, the police volunteer training curriculum and a tour of city parks and neighborhoods.

For more information about the police volunteer program, contact Police Chief Kevin Klason at 253-480-2430.