Public Services Volunteer of the Year honored

Palm Coast resident Gary Dekay has been a volunteer with the Flagler County Sheriff’s office for the past six years; and, last week, Sheriff James L. Manfre informed Historic City News that Dekay was recognized for the hours he has donated to the county’s largest law enforcement agency.

Flagler Volunteer Services named Dekay as the “Public Services Volunteer of the Year” during ceremonies at the Flagler Auditorium.

“Dekay splits his volunteerism between the Citizen’s Observer Patrol, the volunteer division of the Sheriff’s Office, and the Investigative Services Division,” the sheriff said. “He is a person who has very valuable skills for our agency and he is willing to share those skills with us.”

The Citizen’s Observer Patrol division also was recognized Wednesday evening for their outstanding service to the community.

As a Citizen’s Observer Patrol volunteer, Dekay works with the STAR Program which assists local residents with making their homes more secure. The program is offered free to the public and provides an inspection that will inform residents where they could beef up security of their homes.

Dekay spent 35 years in the Army prior to moving to Flagler County about seven years ago. His last assignment was in Miami at the Southern Command where he worked in Current Operations, Training, and Counter Illicit Trafficking-which included trafficking of drugs and people.

In the Investigative Division, Dekay has proven to be an invaluable resource as he assists the division in locating stolen property that appears in the pawn data bases that include Flagler, Volusia and St Johns Counties. He also assists investigators by compiling a stolen property list and then compares that against the items in the pawn database.

“As a volunteer, Gary has freed up many man-hours for the detectives who otherwise would have been working to trace the stolen property; instead, they can go about identifying the thieves,” said Sheriff Manfre.

Through his years, Dekay has compiled over 250 names of “persons of interest” that are stored and compared to any suspicious transactions. His investigations have given detectives leads which have led to two arrests this year. Dekay also assists with pawn database training for new detectives.

Sheriff Manfre recently hosted a separate awards program for the Citizen’s Observer Patrol members. Recognition was given to those with five years of service and ten years of service.

At the top of the longevity scale is Bernice Harden who has been a Citizen’s Observer Patrol volunteer for 21 years. Sheriff Manfre recognized Sonia Byrne who has donated 21,000 hours to the program since joining more than 14 years ago.

“This group of volunteers saves the Sheriff’s Office about $700,000 annually by handling assignments that otherwise would have fallen to a road deputy,” said Sheriff Manfre. “Through this program, we are able to free up the road deputies for other responsibilities while still providing a needed service to the community.”

The Citizen’s Observer Patrol volunteers are trained for traffic management; as investigators for minor traffic accidents; parade route coordinators; home safety inspectors and funeral escorts. The Sheriff’s Palm Coast precinct is staffed Monday through Friday by Citizen’s Observer Patrol volunteers.