EVERETT — Retirement is for wimps.
While many people opt for a relaxed retirement, Bill Searcy, 72, was looking for speeders Jan. 15.
Searcy, of Everett, sat in a white minivan on Rucker Avenue, aiming a radar gun at passing traffic. He was at it for hours, taking careful notes that he handed over to his sergeant at the Everett Police Department. His survey will be used to determine if officers need to increase enforcement along Rucker in the near future.
Is he a cop? No, he’s an active member of the police department’s senior volunteer service organization.
The group of retirees and senior citizens perform numerous duties for the department. They watch vacation homes, monitor school crossing zones, inspect police vehicles, enforce handicapped parking zones, assist at safety fairs and perform clerical duties.
Searcy has found the volunteer work exciting and varied. Before he retired, he worked 34 years as a firefighter for the city of Everett. The volunteer work is more than a distraction from the doldrums of retirement. To him, it’s paying back.
“Everett has been good to me and my family over the years, so I wanted to return the favor,” Searcy said.
He found the volunteer program through a friend of his, a fellow firefighter and retiree who was also looking for ways to serve. He had been in the senior volunteer program for six years and highly recommended it, Searcy said.
Training was thankfully less strenuous than running into a burning building. Most training was done while on the job, getting paired up with experienced and knowledgeable volunteers. So every Thursday, Searcy and his partner would go on patrol, supplementing the “thin blue line” with a grayer one.
The important thing is to be visible and help when they can.
“We do jobs that the department would have to do if we weren’t there. We do what we do, allowing the police to fight more serious crime,” Searcy said.
To Sgt. Manuel Garcia, volunteers such as Searcy are a boon to the Everett Police Department.
“People like Bill know what they are doing and enjoy what they do. All I had to do was support the activities with hours and equipment,” Garcia said.
The volunteer work is invigorating and has become part of Searcy’s regular Thursday routine, something he has no intention of giving up anytime in the near future.
“At the end of the day you feel as if you’ve accomplished something. It makes you feel good,” Searcy said. “I’ll do this as long as I’m able to.”
Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.
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