Mrs Denis has given 1740 hours of service, over six years, to the community and says if she could live her life over again she would be a detective.

As a ViP, Mrs Denis of Glenwood said she was always treated like a ``very important person''.

``It's the best thing I have ever done [and] the grandkids think it's pretty cool,'' said Mrs Denis, who used to own a hairdressing salon in Armidale.

ViPs are based in police stations where they help police deal with customer service, community safety and crime prevention needs.

``Nancy always does the shredding ... It's mundane, but something that needs to be done,'' said Callie Walker, The Hills crime prevention officer and, in effect, Mrs Denis's boss at the police station.

Mrs Denis said, shrugging, that she shredded documents for four hours one day.

``It's the most amazing thing,'' said Ms Walker.

Mrs Denis, whose other duties include making information packs for victims, spoke of the acceptance and friendliness at Castle Hill's police station and the respect she was given.

She said would not be giving up the role of a ViP if she and her husband Ken were not moving to Byron Bay.

Mrs Denis, who also volunteers as a support worker at Parramatta Local Court and has been involved in her local Probus clubs for 14 years, is one of 13 ViPs at Castle Hill police station.

Seven of the 13 were recruited four months ago, Ms Walker said.

Dave Barrie, Castle Hill police station's 14th ViP, recently retired from his position after eight years, or 2222 hours, of service.

Ms Walker plays a key liaison role between the police and the community, and has been involved in the development of the Hills Safety Strategy.

The 2007-2010 strategy states that Baulkham Hills has less crime, on average, than other parts of Sydney.

In 2006, the total number of recorded crime incidents in the Baulkham Hills local government area was 17,953. Of those, 57.5per cent were for all combined driving offences, with theft making up another 18.1per cent.

< p>

< p>