Maine’s first volunteer police program is looking to boost its numbers.

The Scarborough Volunteers In Police Services patrol, created in 2003 to help Scarborough police with routine duties such as delivering agenda packets to town councilors, is in need of about six more volunteers, said Joe Giacomantonio, community resource officer in charge of the volunteer program.

The numbers have dwindled from 16 to 10 because most of the volunteers are retired senior citizens who have other commitments, Giacomantonio said.

“Health and vacation plans tend to get in the way at times,” he said.

VIPS is primarily looking for volunteers who can carry out public safety patrols, which means driving around parking lots of Scarborough businesses and also helping with enforcing parking violations, Giacomantonio said.

“We can have them do a wide variety of things, but that’s mainly what we need them to do,” he said.

Ed Libby, a 63-year-old Scarborough retiree involved with the program for the past five years, said he decided to volunteer because he felt Scarborough police had more important tasks on which to focus, such as solving crimes and enforcing laws.

“I just felt that as a volunteer, I could help the Police Department by doing smaller jobs that they don’t necessarily have the time to do,” Libby said.

Libby volunteers about 30 hours per month, mostly enforcing parking violations such as vehicles parked in handicap spots or in fire lanes.

He isn’t aggressive with writing tickets, he said; he usually leaves notes on vehicle windshields informing drivers of the violation.

“I would say that 99.99 percent of the time people are very respectful towards that approach and usually move their vehicles without any problems,” Libby said.

Giacomantonio said he’d like to see daily volunteer patrols, but he needs about six more volunteers to reach that goal.

“Most of the work is done around the weekends,” Giacomantonio said. “We don’t have a daily schedule and that’s part of the problem.”

Volunteers in Police Service is a national program. The volunteers are not meant to replace deputies, but to support them in property checks, traffic control, checking in on seniors and other tasks.

“That’s the whole idea behind the program – to find people to do jobs that we’re assigned to that don’t need to be done by a sworn police officer,” Giacomantonio said. “These volunteers really help us out.”

Maine has 41 VIPS programs, according to the national VIPS Web site. Programs like Scarborough’s are doing well for the most part, Giacomantonio said. Standish created its program in January 2008 and now has 20 volunteers.

“I feel as though we are doing a service,” said Phyllis Schroeder, who has been a volunteer in Standish since that program began.

Giacomantonio said he isn’t worried about Scarborough’s numbers because they ebb and flow, but he would like to see a few more people sign on.

“Can we do without them? Yes,” he said. “Do we want to do without them? No. They serve a vital role in helping keep our community safe.”

The Scarborough program has three service areas: administrative, helping with clerical work; community service, helping with community education and public safety patrol, and VIPS, where volunteers patrol in a specially marked and equipped van that has Scarborough Police Volunteer Services written on the side.

“I really enjoy helping and I wish I could donate more time,” Libby said.

For more information, contact the Scarborough Police Department at 730-4224, or visit www.scarboroughpolice.com.