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Citizens asked to join COPS

BY JASON THOMPSON Citizens are invited to take policing into their own hands. A new program will have COPS (Citizens on Patrol) walking city streets and acting as the eyes and ears of law enforcement.
Sudbury.com Staff
BY JASON THOMPSON

Citizens are invited to take policing into their own hands. A new program will have COPS (Citizens on Patrol) walking city streets and acting as the eyes and ears of law enforcement.

Volunteers will patrol the community in vehicles, keeping an eye out for suspicious behaviour and emergency situations in Garson, Skead, Falconbridge and Capreol.

The Greater Sudbury Police Service is looking for volunteers to take part in the pilot program. Those interested must be at least 19 years of age, must pass a police background check, as well as possess a valid driver?s licence and have a first aid/CPR certificate.

Volunteers must also participate in training sessions and commit a minimum of 12 hours a month to the program.

?Depending on the number of people, we would like to be able to be fully staffed for the entire week,? said Const. John Lalonde. It has yet to be determined if the program will run five or seven days a week.

Ideally, Lalonde hopes to find volunteers who are familiar with the pilot areas. ?Generally, people who live in those areas have a better knowledge base of the area and know what the problems are,? he said.

Lalonde also hopes police foundations students will get involved because they could benefit from the experience.

Volunteers will be trained to visually analyze a situation while on patrol, as well as taught how court proceedings work in case they are called to testify. Radio etiquette, police codes and other controlled information will also be taught.

Volunteers will not arrest people. Rather they will call police for assistance. ?These people are volunteering their time and the last thing we want to see is a volunteer get hurt,? said Lalonde.

Sudbury isn?t the first city in the province to experiment with a program of this nature. ?We took what we thought was best from different programs and rolled it into the training,? said Lalonde.

Registration for this program is already underway and ends Sept. 20. The program itself will launch in October. For more information phone 675-9171, ext. 2288.