Ten years ago. Lake Worth Mayor Jeff Clemens merged LWPD with PBSO.

The 10th anniversary was on August 26th. Was it a reason to celebrate? No. The work continues.

And that work cannot be done without volunteers. Today would be a good day to find out more about how to become a volunteer for PBSO. The details are below.

One of the more common complaints about PBSO is the bellyaching about their helicopters circling at night over a neighborhood, especially at night. Hearing people complain about the noise is annoying in itself. Long-time residents of this City don’t complain because they have to keep in mind there are many new residents that have no knowledge of things that preceded them.

Ten years ago this City of Lake Worth was a much different place. In many neighborhoods the gangs were firmly in control. Murder rate was sky high. Downtown was a place to avoid. Poor areas west of Dixie were particularly hard hit. On Friday when the sun went down the mayhem didn’t stop until Sunday when the sun came up. Friday was when the migrant workers and the undocumented got paid. In cash.

Gangs would descend on the Guatemalan neighborhoods and rob them all weekend. They and other communities with many undocumented persons did not resist for the most part. The ones that did were shot. The LWPD was overwhelmed.

At one point a former commissioner conceded in 2007, “[W]e have allowed the gangs to get ahead of us.”

PBSO was tasked with cleaning up this mess. And one of the tools in the toolbox for PBSO was their volunteer program that continues to this day. Maybe today would be a good day to learn more.


How to become a volunteer for PBSO District 14 in
this City of Lake Worth and there is District 16 in the City of Greenacres as well.

Contact PBSO’s Volunteer Headquarters: 561-433-2003; email: Volunteer@PBSO.org

“Volunteering not only fosters a great feeling of accomplishment but helps your community
become a safer place.”

Or you can visit the Volunteer Services Unit at
2601 S. Military Trail, Ste. 29 in West Palm Beach.
Open Monday–Friday from 9:00 a.m.–noon,
1:00 p.m.–4:00.

A program having an extraordinary and positive effect is the Lake Worth Advocates Group sponsored by the Lake Worth Neighborhood Assoc. Presidents’ Council (NAPC). Volunteers are notified the night prior to attend 1st Appearance hearings for offenders. The Lake Worth Advocates have:

[P]roven to be a very effective tool for businesses and residents to fight and reduce the blight of street walkers in our neighborhoods.

Contact the Advocates by email: NAPCinfo@gmail.com

Citizen Observer Patrol (COP)*

Also inquire about the Citizen Observer Patrol unit at PBSO. This program is “comprised of individual COP units from neighborhoods much like your own. Volunteers wear distinctive uniforms and drive specially marked vehicles; each COP vehicle is equipped with a radio and police scanner.”

Other COP volunteer opportunities are:

• Media Unit.
• Administrative.
• Traffic Monitoring.
• Parking Enforcement Specialist.
• Volunteer Emergency Response Team (VERT).
• Honor Guard.
• Airport Unit.
• Mounted Unit.
• Marine Unit.
• Bike Patrol.

*COP  =  Community Oriented Policing: This program is “the component of the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for advancing the practice of community policing by the nation’s state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies through information and grant resources.”