The Lynnwood-based Trolley Days Band usually travels with three cops.

It’s not that the group is particularly controversial or afraid for their safety.

They just need people to play the baritone, trombone and trumpet.

Enter Brier Police Chief Jeff Holmes, Edmonds Police Sgt. Jeff Jones and Edmonds animal control and parking officer Debbie Dawson.

Every week they trade their guns and ticket books for horns and sheet music.

“We’re well protected,” band organizer Becky Janecke said.

Since 1997, the 43-member band has served as an oasis for adults with instruments and desire, but no place to play.

“There were a lot of band (geeks) in high school that are out there floating around in society,” said Holmes, 49. “Almost everybody enjoyed band; band was a blast. It sure beats writing essays and doing homework.”

Dawson, once a high school band teacher and principal trumpet player at Seattle Pacific University, had put her brass away for nearly 20 years before joining the Trolley Days Band six years ago.

“Somewhere to play, as an adult, is very difficult to find,” she said. “That’s why most of us haven’t played in 20 or 25 years.”

And that’s why Janecke, who doesn’t even play an instrument, decided to start up the band. While she says she is merely a conduit who “allows the band to happen,” Janecke organizes the group’s events, books shows, clothes them, feeds them and does anything else that earns her the title of the band’s “mother.”

And she takes that role seriously, whether it’s directed toward 13-year-old saxophonist Jordan Light or Chief Holmes.

“These are still kids,” Janecke said. “I don’t care if he’s the police chief or not, he still better behave.”

Holmes was brought into the band by conductor Tim Leese. The pair went to high school on Whidbey Island and community college in Wenatchee together, and Holmes’ phone was one of the first to ring when Janecke and Leese set out to recruit members.

“I gave him the pretty stock answer that everyone’s given him, ‘I haven’t played in 25 years,’” Holmes said. “That first practice, we had five people there.”

“We sounded horrible,” Dawson added. “But now we’re up to a pretty consistent 40 (band members), and people’s musicianship is improving. We actually are starting to sound pretty darn good.”

Sgt. Jones, who also was an original member of the band, couldn’t be reached. He is participating in training in Eastern Washington.

Holmes, who had long sold his baritone after college, rented one for a year after joining the band, just to make sure this little experiment was going to work.

He eventually bought a used one on eBay, and he’s been at practice most Thursdays since then — save for a brief stint when he tried to open a restaurant in California. He sees the band as a chance to blow off some steam, making music in the process.

“After any stressful job, whether it’s police work or a stock broker, I suppose, you do have to have your recreational time,” he said. “I’ve got that pretty much scheduled into my calendar as a day that I really enjoy — band day. It’s a nice diversion from the job.”

Dawson said the officers’ participation in the band also might help people dismiss some of their impressions of police officers.

“Maybe if they see me playing in the band, they’ll think, ‘That’s that gal who gave me that parking ticket. She’s not so bad after all,’” she said. “I hope that it would break down some of those stereotypes and barriers.”

Janecke, a hospice nurse and family counselor, said she understands the need for some levity and comfort through music.

“They tend to see the sadder part of life,” she said. “Being part of this maybe restores some faith that there is something good out there.”

Victor Balta is a reporter for the Herald in Everett.