Hamstrung by shrinking budgets, the police say the volunteers are indispensable in dealing with low-level offenses and allow sworn officers to focus on more pressing crimes and more violent criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the option to either stop handling those calls or do it in a different manner,\u201d\u009d said Fresno\u2019s police chief, Jerry Dyer, whose department has lost more than 300 employees in recent years. \u201cI\u2019ve always operated under the premise of no risk, no success. And in this instance, I felt we really didn\u2019t have very much to lose.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Other chiefs facing budget problems are also using volunteers. In Mesa, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb, 10 of them have been trained to process crime scenes, dust for fingerprints and even swab for DNA. In Pasadena, Calif., a team of retirees is combating identity theft \u201d\u201d and, apparently, their own ennui.<\/p>\n