Welcome to Stockton's program to help citizens clean up their neighborhoods. The V.O.I.C.E. program recruits City of Stockton citizens to help identify and document common code problems in our community such as garbage, junk, debris, inoperative vehicles, falling fences, cars parked on the lawn, and graffiti.

The program is called V.O.I.C.E., which stands for "Volunteers Out Identifying Code Enforcement". The V.O.I.C.E. program is coordinated from the City of Stockton's Neighborhood Services Division.


Who can qualify for the V.O.I.C.E. program?

In order to be a part of the V.O.I.C.E. program participants have to:

• Be a resident of Stockton,

• Be willing to abide by the rules of the V.O.I.C.E. program,

• Complete an application form,

• Attend a brief training class on the program, and

• Be a member of a recognized association that endorses the City's program (such as Neighborhood Watch, Safe Neighborhood, Home owner's Association, Property Management, Police Advisory Board, etc.).

• How does the V.O.I.C.E. program work?

In a nutshell, the V.O.I.C.E. volunteers working in teams of two, occasionally inspect their own neighborhoods looking for obvious code enforcement violations. When a violation is found, a volunteer writes the address on a special postcard, checking boxes to tell what is wrong. The volunteers also record the address and problem on an activity sheet. The V.O.I.C.E. volunteer submits the postcards to the V.O.I.C.E. coordinator for mailing.

Ten days after the postcards are mailed, the volunteers return to the property to see if problems have been fixed. In most cases, we have found that the postcard works and the problems are often fixed when the inspection is performed. The results of this follow-up inspection are recorded on an activity log by the volunteer and submitted to the V.O.I.C.E. coordinator at the Neighborhood Services Section office.

For those properties where the violations were not fixed, the case is assigned to a Code Enforcement Officer from the Neighborhood Services Section who will visit the property. The Code Enforcement Officer has the authority to issue monetary citations and fees.

The City hopes that Administrative Citations will be rare and that most violations will be corrected when the responsible person first finds out that someone cares about the problem.

To find out more about the V.O.I.C.E. Program or to volunteer, call 937-8152.