Sharron Kanter

Sharron L. Kanter is a volunteer in the Lakewood WA Police Department Crime Analysis Unit (CAU). Sharron volunteered to help build a Crime Analysis Unit when Lakewood formed its own police department in late 2004. Sharron and the staff crime analyst have modified, automated and streamlined all required reports.

Sharron's real specialties are twofold. First, she is an Excel guru. If it can be done in Excel, she will figure out how to do it. She introduced the Pivot Table option, which made previously weeklong reports take less than three hours. Another report which previously took two months to plan, execute and finish now takes a day for Sharron to do with the system she has created.

Sharron's other specialty is her tenacity. Failure has never been an option for her. It is this specialty that has made the CAU a success and respected for its accomplishments by other CAU's in the county. A crime analyst recently asked Sharron if she would like to move into her city, so she could volunteer in their CAU.

Sharron dedicated about 20 hours per week to the CAU and has provided 2,400 volunteer hours of support to the department. She has helped create a process for all routine work that the CAU produces. She actually produces the lion's share of routine work making her completely invaluable to the police department. Her CAU staff member has told the Chief that without Sharron's dedication to this department, loyalty to her community, superior intelligence, analytical mind and tenacious problem solving ability, it would be very difficult to do all that they are tasked to do every week.

Sharron has also recently taken on the responsibility of performing criminal history checks on new department volunteers, in addition to her CAU duties.

In addition, Sharron has also been the co-coordinator for Lakewood's annual National Night Out Against Crime (NNO) for the past ten years. During this period, NNO events in Lakewood have increased from fewer than ten with a few hundred participants to 48 events this year and almost 4,000 participants. NNO efforts include securing donations, coordinating event visits by police and fire departments, information sharing, public speaking, and frequent communication with neighborhood NNO coordinators. Her NNO efforts for Lakewood were recognized in 2002, when the city council proclaimed August 6, 2002 as Mike and Sharron Kanter Day in the city of Lakewood, WA.

Sharron is the recipient of the "Police Chief's Citizen Commendation" award, which was in recognition of her service to the department and the community. It is the highest award that the chief can give to a community member. If this weren't enough, Sharron also edits the quarterly and annual Communities in Schools of Lakewood newsletter.