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Clark County sheriff auxiliary reports more than 2,100 volunteer hours and expanded duties including abandoned-vehicle tagging
Summary
Volunteers with the Clark County Sheriff Auxiliary say the unit — formed in 2011 and now 35 members strong — logged more than 2,100 hours in 2024 and has expanded duties beyond event patrols to include disabled-parking checks and abandoned-vehicle inspections and affidavits.
Since its formation in 2011, the Sheriff Auxiliary has become “an integral part of the Clark County Sheriff's Office,” a Sheriff Auxiliary volunteer said, supporting community-oriented policing through volunteer service.
The auxiliary now numbers 35 volunteers and completed more than 2,100 hours of service in 2024, according to speakers during the presentation. Volunteers described duties that include event patrols such as the Clark County Fair and parades, the Santa's Posse holiday-assistance program, disabled-parking patrols and inspections and tagging of abandoned vehicles.
The program’s screening and training requirements were outlined: volunteers must be at least 21 years old and live in Clark County, and undergo a criminal background investigation, fingerprinting, interviews and a reference check. "Then we hold a training session. It's about 10 hours. So it's about 4 weeks of classroom time," another Sheriff Auxiliary volunteer said, adding new volunteers ride on patrols with more experienced members as mentors.
Volunteers said the auxiliary’s abandoned-vehicle work began in 2018. When that effort started, volunteers inspected and tagged about 75 reported vehicles per month; speakers said the monthly count has roughly doubled since then. Some auxiliary members receive specialized training that allows them to inspect vehicle identification numbers and sign affidavits so junk vehicles can be processed for scrap, a volunteer said.
Speakers emphasized the program’s role in supplementing limited patrol staffing. "By doing these tasks, they help fill in the gaps in many things," one volunteer said, describing the auxiliary as a “huge benefit” to patrol. Volunteers are required to contribute at least four hours per month; one volunteer said they performed just over 100 hours last year.
For more information about the Clark County Sheriff Auxiliary, presenters directed listeners to the county website: clark.wa.gov/sheriff/sheriffauxiliary.
