POLICING KINDNESS: NO JOB IS TOO SMALL FOR VOLUNTEER AT CAPE POLICE DEPARTMENT

With her police volunteer vest folded over one arm, Roslind Vogel takes a pile of reports almost eight inches high with her free hand and walks back to the Cape Girardeau Police Department records room to spend the next four hours typing.

"When you get a volunteer coming to the police, they usually want to do something exciting," says Vogel, who has put in over 280 hours performing police clerical dirty work. "When they find out they'll be typing and filing, their interest fades."

Vogel is one of about 25 people who volunteer their time each week to the police by recording and filing fingerprint records, dog licenses and crime scene photographs, among other things.

As a result, the process of enforcing the law has become more orderly, says Sgt. Carl Kinnison. Years of backlogged fingerprint records, which are sent to state and federal police agencies to use in identification, have finally been completed, he says.

As one of the first and most active graduates of the Citizen's Police Academy, Vogel can take much credit, says police Cpl. Kevin Orr.

Orr, who has overseen the year-and-a-half-old academy, says Vogel has initiated much of the volunteer work herself. She keeps track of the participants and is involved in the organization of their work, he says.

The nature of police work isn't new to Vogel, a retired legal secretary. She spent three years performing clerical duties for the Department of Justice and FBI in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., and later filled in at her husband's law firm when secretaries were sick, she says.

"I had a lot of exposure to why laws are made and why they're enforced," she says.

But the Citizen's Police Academy, which meets two hours a week for eight weeks, taught Vogel things she didn't know.

The number of Cape Girardeau police who have graduated from the FBI academy is more impressive than she thought, and conversations in the briefing room have given her insights into criminal life that she wasn't sure she was supposed to have.

"When they have started talking about certain subjects, I've asked them if they wanted me to leave the room," she says. "But they always say not to bother."

During the eight-week academy, police from various parts of the department explain their jobs, and volunteers get a sense for the roles they can play, Vogel says.

Not every volunteer is asked to process piles of unfiled reports. Some may assist with clinics to keep dogs' rabies shots up to date, or provide bicycle safety instruction to children, she says.

Michelle Thomas took her summer volunteer experience with weed control and turned it into a full-time job with the police. She says she is glad to have Vogel around.

"She has so much experience in life, it's nice to have her and other volunteers around to bounce ideas off of," says Thomas, who still monitors weed control for the police, along with pet nuisances and abandoned cars.

But police volunteer work is not open to all. Potential volunteers must pass a background check before they enroll, Kinnison says.

"They don't make it easy to get in here," Vogel says. "Just look at all the doors with locks and codes, and the computer passwords change every 10 days."

Orr gave Vogel her blue police volunteer's vest to wear so access would be easier. She says it has been simpler to carry the vest.

"It's about three sizes too big," she says. "I took it home thinking I could alter it, but it's impossible."