Since last June, Manteca Police Department SHARP volunteer Mike Ageno has racked up 257 hours of volunteer time for the people of Manteca.

And, as a result, he was honored this week as the Manteca Police Department’s volunteer of the quarter – an ongoing effort by the agency to showcase the work of the community to help keep residents safe and support the department’s ongoing operations.

According to the release, Ageno – who lives in Manteca with his wife, with whom he shares three children and multiple grandchildren – has become the agency’s de facto car expert with his longtime automotive knowledge and has taken it upon himself to maintain the department’s 1947 antique patrol car and showcase it at car shows throughout the area.

Like any good car guy, Ageno also isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

As part of his volunteer efforts, Ageno has also developed a reputation as somebody that is not afraid to tackle the job of graffiti cleanup – and always maintains a positive and “sunny” disposition when tackling the thankless but necessary job of removing the work of vandals.

 SHARP volunteers, with as little as four hours a week, can:

*Free up highly trained police officers from being tied up with traffic control and crime scene preservation duties at major incidents for hours at a time.

*Help Manteca stay on top of graffiti eradication and reduce the time it lingers.

*Help the city take steps needed to retrieve abandoned vehicles.

*Make sure shopping carts don’t litter neighborhoods and streets.

*Serve as extra eyes for the police in school zones, commercial areas, and neighborhoods.

*Work to keep basketball hoops set up in streets where they create traffic and safety hazards.

 That’s just a partial list of the quality-of-life tasks that Manteca SHARP can — or could do — if they had the manpower.

“Could” do is the operative word.

Due to ranks that still haven’t recovered after taking a hit during the pandemic, Manteca SHARP has been forced to suspend their “extra eyes” patrols, keeping basketball hoops from being set up in the street  and shopping cart retrieval efforts.

They’ve also been forced to cut back on time dedicated to helping the city stay atop of graffiti.

In 2019 prior to the pandemic, they had almost 60 volunteers that devoted 10,300 hours to serving the community.

They essentially free up highly-trained police officers from required routine task to devote more time to patrol.

Those tasks range from delivering documents to the courts and other agencies to serving as traffic control at community event such as next week’s Fourth of July parade to documenting and making sure graffiti gets eradicated.

Since its inception on Sept. 3, 1991 the official name has been Seniors Helping Area Residents and

It requires being able to devote a minimum of four hours a week. Those four hours are at the convenience of the volunteer.

The city will provide the uniform.

Information about joining the SHARP unit is available on the city’s website on the police department page or by calling 209-456-8240.