Sebastopol police volunteer Dan Potts fills a need in the community -- and his heart
BY MIKE McCOY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
For seven years, Dan Potts would leave his job running Sawyer's News in downtown Santa Rosa to put in 20 hours a week chalking tires, directing traffic, hosting neighborhood meetings and pretending to be a thief.
It was all in a week's work as a member of Santa Rosa's Volunteers in Police Services program.
One day he'd be marking tires of those who violated the city's 72-hour parking limit, redirecting traffic at accident and crime scenes, hosting one of 100 Neighborhood Watch meetings or do play-acting at the Santa Rosa Junior College Police Academy to test how cadets would react to a real-life situation.
"It was a personal need," Potts says of his commitment to volunteer work.
"It's the same reason as John, only I don't get paid," Potts said of Santa Rosa Councilman John Sawyer, Potts' companion and business partner, who jointly runs the store but also puts in 30-40 hours a week on city business. Council members are paid $900 for their monthly service.
Potts said he gets paid, but not in money.
"I get compensated in my heart," he said, "by helping people in bad situations."
Potts' relationship with Santa Rosa's volunteer corps came to an abrupt end earlier this year when his job got caught in the political crossfire of Sawyer's votes to cut some department programs and jobs because of budget problems.
"It became uncomfortable," Potts said, so he and the department came to a mutual agreement he'd leave in March.
Potts said his desire to give back to the community led him three months later to join Sebastopol's Community Services Volunteers, 17 people who free up the city's 14 sworn personnel to tackle more pressing law enforcement matters.
Potts said he's still in the training stage until he learns all of Sebastopol's streets. But he said the role of volunteers is much the same as in Santa Rosa, except they have a bit more latitude, including writing tickets for all types of non-moving violations instead of just handicapped and fire-lane parking violations.
A few weeks ago he was part of Sebastopol's contribution to a joint countywide law enforcement task force that is cracking down on drunken drivers. During one crackdown in Rohnert Park, Potts worked from 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. processing tow reports and compiling an inventory of the contents of cars of those arrested.
During the recent two-day Gravenstein Apple Fair, he and other volunteers "walked through the festival to present a police presence and make sure people were safe." At other times they may find themselves shooing gawking motorists around accident scenes, walking through a senior housing complex to offer a sense of security or fingerprinting people at the police station.
Sebastopol Police Chief Jeff Weaver said the volunteers, along with Police Explorers and reserve police officers, are critical for the city of 7,800 residents. "They do things we just couldn't do," Weaver said.
Potts said his intent is to provide at least 50 hours of volunteer work a month to his adopted department.
"It helps fill a void," he said.
-- You can reach Staff Writer Mike McCoy at 521-5276 or mike.mccoy@pressdemocrat.com.
