Specialized reserve volunteers will be used to augment, broaden, and increase the effectiveness of the Hillsboro Police Department in its mandate to protect the community

02/26/04

By George Z. Heuston
Project Manager,
Hillsboro Police Dept.

"Specialized reserve volunteers will be used to augment, broaden, and increase the effectiveness of the Hillsboro Police Department in its mandate to protect the community."

This is the mission and the vision of the Hillsboro Police Department's Police Reserve Specialists. Formed by HPD in the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001, the PRS is a group of volunteers like none other. It has been drawn from Hillsboro's distinctive and deep pool of technical talent, and abiding dedication to public service.

PRS volunteers are mechanical, software, and electrical engineers, network and telecommunications experts, academicians and researchers. Their expertise ranks not only among the best of our local community, but among the best in the country.

By way of example: PRS Dr. Sarah Mocas is one of only 10 female cryptologists in the U.S.; PRS John Richardson is the Chief Security Strategist for Intel Corporation; and PRS Robert Stites, a nationally recognized crime scene reconstruction specialist and blood-spatter expert. If HPD needed to hire them as consultants, neither the department nor the city could afford them. But when HPD asked this group to step up and volunteer, the response was overwhelmingly positive.

In little more than a year, HPD has trained and mobilized over 30 PRS volunteers. In return, the PRS have assisted HPD investigators in a wide range of rubber-meets-the-road situations. They have conducted digital forensic evidence retrieval and imaging, accompanied investigators on searches, and delivered training to police officers and City of Hillsboro personnel, ranging from how to work the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office programs, to the processing of complex crime scenes.

The aptitudes of the PRS have not been focused solely on HPD's internal needs and requirements. Indeed, the capabilities reflected in the PRS talent pool truly shine in the areas of proactive policing and community outreach.

PRS volunteers were instrumental in conceiving, designing, and deploying the Cyber Awareness Responsibility and Ethics(tm) program, a curriculum that teaches kids to become safe and responsible citizens of the cyber community. They are setting up Technology Access Points (TAPs) which will link our community and provide wireless access to cyberspace-for all of us, advantaged and disadvantaged alike.

The first of these TAPs was rolled out at the Sunset Gardens apartment complex in October 2004. It is a fully functional 9 station Linux-based and Internet-connected computer lab that allows underprivileged kids without computers and Web access to go online and become educated in cyber technology -- under PRS mentorship.

In January 2004 the PRS opened a second TAP at the HPD West Precinct's Learning Center. Again, the computer lab was built with 14 city-donated computers. Through PRS auspices, and partnership with Saturday Academy, more digital doors are being opened.

A basic programming and Lego(tm) Robotics course is underway in the Learning Center now. Ten of the 11 children enrolled in the class are Hispanic, and seven are girls.

The PRS volunteers are also partnering with other groups like Portland State University and Intel, to realize common outreach objectives. In the near future the PRS volunteers and their partners will be contributing many days, and in many ways -- perhaps at a TAP near you.

Anyone seeking to be a PRS volunteer may contact the author at: georgeh@ci.hillsboro.or.us. The CARE(tm) project website is at: http://cyberaware.org.