RUNNING POLICE STOREFRONTS; WORKERS DONATE SERVICE.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer Whatever happens at the storefront Moorpark Police Resource Center - urgent, misguided or downright strange - Judi Daufeldt and the other volunteers try to deal with it. A panicked man once called to say he'd narrowly escaped from a swarm of killer bees Killer Bees Those who help a company fend off a takeover attempt with the use of defensive strategies. Notes: Companies, usually with the help of investment bankers, use a number of strategies to repel a hostile takeover bid including, but are not limited to: poison at Moorpark Community College. More recently, a confused motorist stopped by for directions to Carmel - and was given them. A couple called wanting to know if it was legal to bury their dead horse on their ranch. It wasn't. And then there was the time a woman, speaking only Spanish that Daufeldt and other volunteers could not understand, came in and seemed increasingly agitated ag·i·tate v. ag·i·tat·ed, ag·i·tat·ing, ag·i·tates v.tr. 1. To cause to move with violence or sudden force. 2. . ``She seemed really upset about something, and we were concerned because we couldn't figure out what her problem was,'' Daufeldt said. Volunteers raced to find a translator. ``It turns out the woman thought we were a diet center, and she was interested in buying some diet drugs.'' That woman's confusion was understandable. The resource center is in a former doctor's office in the Hughes shopping center shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into along Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Avenue, sandwiched between a veterinarian's office and a self-service laundry A self-service laundry is a facility where clothes are washed and dried. They are known in the UK as launderettes or laundrettes - and in the USA as laundromats (from the genericized trademark of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation). . A neon neon (nē`ŏn) [Gr.,=new], gaseous chemical element; symbol Ne; at. no. 10; at. wt. 20.179; m.p. −248.67°C;; b.p. −246.048°C;; density 0.8999 grams per liter at STP; valence 0. Neon is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. ``police'' sign marks the center at night. Most of the time, volunteers deal with serious, if mundane, matters at such centers, including ones operated by city police agencies in Ventura and Oxnard. For example, both of the storefront centers run by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department The Ventura County Sheriff's Department (VCSD) provides law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, USA, as well as several cities within the county. The cities that VCSD serves are Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, and Thousand Oaks. - in Moorpark and in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. - offer low-cost fingerprinting fingerprinting Act of taking an impression of a person's fingerprint. Because each person's fingerprints are unique, fingerprinting is used as a method of identification, especially in police investigations. . So far this year, about 2,900 people have dropped by the resource center at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks to be fingerprinted for jobs, immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. applications and other matters, said Joel Hockman, a Sheriff's Department volunteer coordinator. In that same period, the center's 20 part-time volunteers fielded 1,374 phone calls and helped 645 people in person, he said. The resource center, originally located by Thousand Oaks Boulevard, moved last September to take advantage of rent-free space provided by the mall in a popular location, he said. The mall ``is kind of a focal point focal point n. See focus. of the community, so it's a natural place to be,'' he said. Deputies also find the location convenient. They can drop in to write reports and do other on-duty business without having to drive back to the east valley station, said sheriff's Cmdr. Kathy Kemp. ``Some people don't like a police officer coming to their house to take a report, so they can go to the resource center and the officer will meet them there,'' she said. Some of the volunteers are trained to take minor property crime reports. The resource centers also offer crime prevention brochures and statistics. Real estate brokers and prospective home buyers are interested in the information showing a low crime rate in local neighborhoods. Police say volunteers at the resource centers have proven to be very valuable community assets, answering an array of questions or at least pointing people in the right direction to get answers from others. Among the volunteers are Bill and Barbara Quick, retirees who work together twice a week at the Thousand Oaks center. ``A lot of people have no place to go until they find out they can come and talk to us, and we'll line things up for them,'' said Bill Quick, 76. ``It's something that helps the community and helps the police and gets us out of the house.'' Volunteers never know what may happen next, he said. ``A few days ago someone stepped through the door and fell on the floor,'' he said. ``She had a seizure. We got the Fire Department and ambulance there right away to take care of her.'' On another day, a woman came in asking for help to keep a 20-year-old man from tattooing tattooing /tat·too·ing/ (tah-too´ing) the introduction, by punctures, of permanent colors in the skin. tattooing of cornea permanent coloring of the cornea, chiefly to conceal leukomatous spots. her 15-year-old son. A deputy offered to talk to the tattoo artist A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is a person who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in a dedicated business called a tattoo shop, tattoo studio or tattoo parlour. . Over in Moorpark, Sgt. Rick Hindman said the center's 30 volunteers have put in more than 9,800 hours of time since the resource center opened in 1994. Storefront police centers provide a unique service to the community and also help police create closer ties with the people they protect, Hindman said. ``It gives the public another avenue to contact the police,'' he said. ``Our detectives have gotten information from the resource center, where people say: I've seen this; what should I do?'' Volunteers turn down some requests, however, Daufeldt warned - as when a citizen comes in wanting to report a traffic accident that happened more than a year ago and to get it investigated. ``It's unbelievable how frequent these (requests) are,'' she said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (1--Color only in Conejo edition) Judi Daufeldt finds volunteer work at a police storefront center in Moorpark varied and interesting. Tina Gerson/Daily News |
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