Published on Monday, March 14, 2005
in the Winter Haven News Chief

FHP auxiliary wants to boost volunteer numbers

LAKELAND - Every paramedic sooner or later has a life-defining moment. That moment occurred 17 years ago for Polk County Emergency Medical Service Supervisor Mike Lunsford in his guise as a Florida Highway Patrol Auxiliary officer.

Lunsford and his full-time FHP colleague rolled up on a head-on crash on U.S. Highway 27 north of Interstate 4. Lunsford immediately recognized two dead children in the vehicle as the pair who waved at him minutes earlier as he gave their dad directions to Clermont.

"It was a very traumatic situation for me, but I know that if I wasn't there, that third child would have died also," Lunsford said on Sunday. "You take what you see, and use it to become a better trooper or a paramedic."

Lakeland's FHP substation is calling out the reserves to get folks to slow down on the roads. The FHP Auxiliary wants more volunteers to join the beat, Auxiliary Capt. Keith Batts said. A Tampa-based Verizon network engineer in real life, Batts wears a uniform, carries a sidearm and regularly patrols the Lakeland District for disabled motorists and accidents.

Unlike community service officers used by local agencies, FHP auxiliary members graduate from basic police standards school and hold certification as police officers, Batts said. Besides a slightly different uniform, there is little to distinguish an auxiliary officer from a full-time career trooper, he said.

The division tightened the gap a bit more on March 1 by broadening the role of volunteer auxiliary troopers who now investigate minor crashes and issue traffic summons. The group's greatest service is in providing a presence on the roads and a bit more fabric to the thin tan line.

Auxiliary members recently helped with traffic control at the Daytona 500 and were particularly active in the aftermath of the hurricanes, Batts said.

Years ago, a civics instructor told Lunsford of Lake Wales that citizens have an obligation to return resources to the community. A paramedic who reaches 29 years service on Tuesday, Lunsford considers duty with the FHP Auxiliary just the other side of the coin for a medical investigator who regularly interviews patients for insight into their conditions. Similarly, Batts has 33 years active and reserve military service. The compulsion to continue to serve his neighbors is what propelled him into the FHP Auxiliary.

"It's something you must have a desire to do," he said.

"They provide a service to the state and the majority of the population does not even know they exist, said Larry E. Coggins Jr., Troop C spokesman and former auxiliary member.

"We have fireman, business owners and EMS supervisors, in the Lakeland unit. Statewide, we have members of the Legislature, big time business owners, truck drivers and retired cops that make up a very valuable resource we are lucky to have."