As part of the United Way’s Day of Caring on Friday, four Suffolk Police officers and civilian employees — plus a few other volunteers — cleaned oyster floats used by the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance in one of its education programs.

Capt. Janet Brandsasse and Maj. Steve Patterson, along with command staff secretary Amanda Morean and administrative analyst Joel Howard, power-washed the floats and bags before refilling them with infant oysters ready for “planting” by local school groups.

Patterson said it was his fourth year involved in Day of Caring, and his second on the alliance’s oyster project.

“We’re moving right along, having a blast,” said Patterson, working with Howard — who brought his pressure washer — on the bank at Suffolk River Heritage president Karla Smith’s property on Chuckatuck Creek, while the others were happily getting splattered with mud at the end of Smith’s dock.

“We clean the floats and get them back down (the dock) to refill them. Hopefully we’ll be done before that rain.”

Elizabeth Taraski, executive director of the local group working to promote the health of Suffolk’s waterway, said it was the alliance’s third year of involvement with the United Way initiative.

The dozen floats cleaned and restocked Friday will be nurseries for 70,000 oysters about the same size as a pinkie fingernail to start with, according to Taraski.

Each month, she said, oyster samples from the floats will be brought into the city’s public schools “so they can understand the important role oysters play in keeping the water clean.”

Next year, Taraski added, the mollusks will be added to an oyster sanctuary. “According to the research, mature oysters filter 50 gallons of water a day,” she said.

The Suffolk Police volunteers worked at a rapid clip, Taraski noted. “They are amazing — it would take us at least a week to do the amount of work they contribute,” she said.

“We are moving at a very fast pace — we’ll complete it this morning.”

According to Smith, it was important work.  “Over time, the floats gather barnacles and slime and algae, so we have to clear the floats and bags so water can flow through them,” she said.

“This is a pretty tedious job.”