CHARLOTTE -- The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department relies on volunteers to get the job done every day.
About 550 people donate their time, energy and skills saving taxpayers more than a million dollars every year.
One of those volunteers is Bruce Naliboff.
When he and his wife retired to Charlotte, the veteran police officer couldn't leave his passion for the law behind.
"After 6 months" he said, "I realized I needed to be around a law enforcement environment again."
Now, CMPD's volunteer of the year puts his 30 years experience to work with the Cold Case Unit, researching old cases, locating and interviewing witnesses.
Naliboff said he feels a responsibility to give victims closure.
"If you're a victim, you're always a victim and until a case is closed you don't have that closure as part of your healing process," said Naliboff.
Sgt. Darrell Price leads the Cold Case Unit. He said the unit couldn't get the job done without its 14 volunteers.
"We wouldn't have time do the interviews that need to be done to go to prisons and talk to suspects and work with our victims," said Price.
The unit has closed more than 100 sexual assault cold cases and 35 homicides.
Naliboff said convictions on those cases are just as important to the community as they are to the victims and their families.
"It's really important for the community to know that the police department does not stop working a case just because a predetermined amount of time has passed," said Naliboff.
Naliboff said knowing that a criminal is behind bars is the best reward he could receive.