During his visit to Bellevue on Aug. 27, President Bush presented longtime Bellevue Police volunteer Bernie Krane with an award for his considerable contributions to the community. Krane, who has served close to 3,000 volunteer hours with the department since 1995, received the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

The Bellevue Police Department’s volunteer program, which received a national award earlier this year, saves the department thousands of hours and untold dollars supporting activities and filling roles that might otherwise fall by the wayside. Krane, a top volunteer among a committed group, was invited to meet the president when Air Force One landed at SeaTac Airport.

Bellevue benefits from a large corps of volunteers who provide valuable services for the Police, Fire, Parks & Community Services, Planning & Community Development and Utilities departments. Volunteer Opportunities

Throughout his 12 years with the department, Krane’s primary assignment has been as an assistant at one of the Police community stations. The Police manage three community stations – where residents can get information and file reports – at Factoria, Crossroads and the Bellevue Transit Center downtown.

As a community station assistant, Krane works one day a week at the Transit Center, assisting citizens who call or come into the station. Krane has helped organize and open two of the community stations and has trained many other volunteer community station assistants.

For the last eight years, Krane has taken on the added responsibility of organizing the Bellevue department’s annual National Night Out Against Crime event. 

Krane handles all of the arrangements up to and during this flagship community outreach event, freeing the officers to get out into the community and make personal contact with residents and businesses. In 2006 the Bellevue National Night Out event received excellence awards from both the National Association of Town Watch and the Washington State Crime Prevention Association.

In Krane’s typically humble manner, he credits the supervisors and program coordinator Marji Trachtman for the volunteer program’s continued success.

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