It was Julie Tinkham?s first day on the job as a Cape Coral police volunteer trainee.

Under the instruction of veteran volunteer Peter DiPaolo, she was making security checks at houses where owners were away on vacation.

Making home security checks is one of the many services provided by Cape Coral?s 158 police volunteers, said volunteer Capt. Joe Hartley. He said the unpaid volunteers check as many as 30 homes a week.

Although she was new at the job, Tinkham said she immediately noticed something was wrong as as she walked up to the house in Southwest Cape Coral two weeks ago.

?I could see scratch marks on the door and that it appeared to be unlocked,? said Tinkham, 67.

She said she called to DiPaolo, who was behind her: ?Pete, we have a problem, take the lead.?

DiPaolo pressed the door and it opened.

?He said in a loud voice, ?run,?? said Tinkham, a retired oral surgery nurse who graduated in July from the city?s volunteer police academy.

DiPaolo, 64, said volunteers are told to leave quickly if they find a burglarized home. Volunteers aren?t armed and don?t want to run the risk of encountering burglars inside, he said.

They ran to their patrol car and called for officers, who went inside and found that burglars had indeed broken in, stealing a gun, a radio and a television. Police collected evidence and the investigation is continuing.

Dipaolo said the houses are checked daily. In a year, he said, he checks about 250 homes.

The service, said DiPaolo, helps discourage burglars.

And in the event a house on the security checklist is burglarized, the sooner the crime is discovered by a volunteer, the better chance there is of solving the crime, Hartley said.

After a homeowner goes to the police station and fills out a request for a security check, ?we go out and check the doors and the windows. We make sure that the pool pump and the air conditioner haven?t been stolen,? said DiPaolo, who has been a police volunteer for more than a year after retiring from a career in computer technology.

Besides the possibility of encountering burglars, there are other hazards to the job, including dogs.

Once, a neighbor?s pit bull stood on its hind legs and looked at him and Tinkham over the fence of a house they were checking.

?I just talked to him and said, ?Hello, how are you doing,?? Tinkham said. She said that seemed to calm the dog, which didn?t bother them, although it could easily have jumped the fence.

Although they don?t get paid, the volunteers are sometimes rewarded for checking people?s homes.

Thelma Koonce, 89, baked them a batch of cookies and an apple pie for checking on her southeast Cape Coral house while she was out of town in June and July.

?I just appreciated what they did. I wanted to return the favor,? she said.