Volunteer provides over 9,000 hours of service
by Kristina Gabalski
John BoppA member of the Ogden Special Police is being recognized by Monroe County for his efforts.
John Bopp, who has been with the volunteer unit since 1987, will receive the 2012 Community Service Award presented by the Monroe County Traffic Safety Board. The presentation will be part of the 16th Annual Monroe County STOP-DWI Program/Traffic Safety Board Awards Luncheon March 7 at Rick’s Prime Rib House on Buffalo Road.
“I don’t feel like I did anything special,” Bopp says. “This was totally unexpected. It’s unusual to get recognized for what you like to do.”
Ogden Chief of Special Police Peter Zambuto says Bopp has given 9,642 volunteer hours and served in all the ranks including chief.
“John is a great people person, he’s always out there on the details being friendly with the citizens of Spencerport. He participates in all the major events,” Chief Zambuto adds.
Ogden Police Chief Doug Nordquist calls Officer Bopp “a wonderful man who epitomizes the core values of this department – Respect, Integrity, Fairness, and Courtesy. He’s a community player to the fullest.”
Spencerport Mayor Joyce Lobene nominated Office Bopp for the award.
“I was thrilled when he was notified that he received it, as in the past it has been for career officers, not volunteers,” Mayor Lobene says. “John can be seen at every function whether it is Christmas on the Canal, Canal Days, Firemen’s Carnival, Homecoming and many times just walking through the village to make sure all is well. He is there with a smile on his face and a great deal of patience.”
Bopp says his service with the Special Police “allows me to give back to the community.” He says helping people gives him great satisfaction. Bopp says he is honored by the award, but the work of the Special Police “is not just my work – it’s a unit. The Town Board is very supportive of the unit – the town supervisor, the chief of police, the full-time officers.”
The Ogden Police Department has always made the Special Police feel very much a part, not a separate entity, Officer Bopp says.
“That’s important, the group is like a family. The full time officers and (Special Police) are all treated equally, we do things together,” he says.
Because the Special Police are volunteers, most have full time jobs and Bopp notes the support of their own families is also essential. He says the support of his wife, Nancy, has helped him greatly in his many years of service.
The mission of the Ogden Special Police is to serve the community and assist the Ogden Police Department to carry out its duties, Bopp says.
The Special Police are encouraged to make routine foot patrols through the village, he explains, “which give us the opportunity to engage in one-on-one contact with youth in the community. We want to be very visible, let (residents) see us and ask questions.”
The Special Police also patrol parks and cemeteries, the canal path on bikes, help at community events like Canal Days and Christmas on the Canal with traffic control and foot patrol. Bopp says they also attend events like the school bike rodeo by taking a bike and even participating in the activity.
“We talk to the kids about bike safety,” he says. “We also do business checks (in the business district) after hours and patrol those areas. At STOP-DWI checkpoints, we assist if needed as well as at motor vehicle accidents, and radar surveys, monitoring speeds after neighbors have complained.”
The Special Police also perform house checks for residents who are out of town.
Bopp says the Special Police undergo extensive and on-going training and have qualifications that allow them to perform a long list of duties including traffic direction, vehicle approaches, radio communications and hand-cuffing. Car certification allows them to ride with full-time officers, and they are also familiar with police equipment and weapons that the full-time officers carry.
“We’re not there to do their (full-time officers’) job,” Bopp says. “We’re there to help them.”
