During recent special ceremonies, Camarillo Volunteers Pat McInerney, Mitch Kreeger and Thomas “TJ” Eskridge were recognized and honored as their respective program’s Member of the Year for 2017.
Pat McInerney joined the Camarillo Citizen Patrol in 2015. During that time Pat has volunteered over 2,000 hours during his career, including 900 in 2017 alone. Pat was born in the Bronx, and had a long career as a packing and shipping supply salesman, and began his law enforcement service as a volunteer at the Santa Paula Police Department, before moving to Camarillo. The Camarillo Citizen Patrol has evolved to become a city-sponsored volunteer program that includes patrol vehicles, uniforms, and equipment for members. Citizen Patrol units perform security house checks of city residents away on vacation, extra patrol of target areas, traffic control, special events and disasters. They may also be called upon to assist the Crime Prevention unit with other crime prevention programs and community services, such as Kid Print, McGruff and preventative talks.
The Camarillo Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) awarded Mitch Kreeger their member of the Year for 2017. Mitch was recently elected as the DART Assistant Captain and has dedicated over 700 hours to the program. Mitch is self-employed at Kreeger Consulting Commercial and is a married father of one. The Disaster Assistance Response Team (D.A.R.T.) program is supervised by Camarillo Police personnel, who coordinate their training and exercises. Approximately 30 volunteers are participating in the program. D.A.R.T. members receive training in areas such as Communications, First Aid/CPR, Medical Emergencies, Cribbing and Shoring of Collapsed Structures and Traffic Crowd Control.
Pat and Mitch were nominate by their fellow peers in their respective groups and were selected by the Community Resource unit. They were both honored at a ceremony on Tuesday, February 27th hosted by the Pleasant Valley Lions Club. The Lions provided a meal for all the volunteers and Camarillo Police Department’s Captain Jeremy Paris presented both men their awards.
Camarillo Police Captain Jeremy Paris also presented Thomas “TJ Eskridge the Explorer of the Year award for the Camarillo Post, at a special ceremony held on Thursday, February 15th. TJ recently turned 17 years old, has been an Explorer since 2016 and has volunteered over 700 hours. TJ recently graduated the Ventura County Law Enforcement Academy, where he was awarded the prestigious D.R.O.P. award and was promoted to Senior Explorer in December. TJ is a junior at Camarillo High School and is a utility player and catcher player on the junior varsity baseball team. The purpose of the Camarillo Police Explorers is to provide young adults who may be interested in a career in law enforcement with a comprehensive program of training, competition, service and practical experiences. Explorers are a community based, youth law enforcement organization aimed at exposing mature, motivated youth between the ages of 14 (and completed the 8th grade) and 20, to various law enforcement career opportunities.
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