Two members of Cochrane’s Citizens on Patrol (COP) load gear into their car on a chilly Thursday spring evening. It’s 9 p.m. and so far things are quiet.
The group serves as extra ‘eyes and ears’ for the RCMP and the Eagle took the opportunity to ride along with two long-serving members to get a glimpse of a typical evening on patrol.
“Everyone is here for the greater good,” said Tyler, a Cochrane Citizens on Patrol member who only wanted to be identified by his first name due to privacy and safety concerns.
Recent rashes of break and enters and thefts in the community over the past year have COP asking anyone over the age of 18 who wants to help patrol the community to get involved.
That desire to help is what drives most patrol members.
“I used to live in Ottawa and saw all the graffiti and thought, ‘There must be something I can do to help.’ Then when I moved here 10 years ago I joined the group,” said a COP member who asked to not be identified due to safety concerns.
To protect the identity of the volunteers, who are retirees, they were given the code names, Starsky and Hutch.
“I wanted to help,” Starsky said at the beginning of his shift, explaining why he joined the organization six years ago.
Both volunteers said they joined to help make their community a safer place and talked about times when they were surprised during patrols over the last decade.
“One time we were asked to keep an eye on No Frills because managers were being kidnapped. We ended up reporting one (suspicious vehicle) but it ended up being the security guard,” Hutch said with a laugh.
Starsky noted that after patrolling for a while, volunteers start to pick up on things such as when a drug deal is happening.
“Mitford (Park) is good for drug dealing, you see one car back in and another car pull in – that way they can transfer drugs through the driver’s windows,” he said.
Working an average of four-hour volunteer shifts (or more if requested by RCMP), the retirees said they spend the night cruising around Historic Downtown, the Quarry, construction sites, and residential areas checking for suspicious persons and criminal activity.
“We look for figures moving quickly to their car … or windows broken, doors broken or people in buildings,” Hutch said.
“We stay longer if we are useful and depending on the activity going on,” Starsky said.
Shifts are flexible and volunteers can only patrol in pairs. Using numbers for safety, the two-partner shifts are also practical for volunteers as one typically drives while the other person handles the radio and spotlight.
“We try not to annoy people with the spotlight,” Hutch said.
Shining the light on dark areas in construction sites or back alleys, the volunteers said they are not encouraged to shine the spotlight on suspicious people but did note the bright light acts as a deterrent to crime as it makes people run or “second-guess” committing an offence.
“We also do the drunk watch – looking for anyone stumbling, fumbling with their keys, driving really slow, going over the lines or driving with no lights,” Hutch said.
The COP members laughed as they recalled working patrol for ‘drunk watch’ and being reported as a suspicious person.
“It happens – the RCMP come and check on us and we have to identify ourselves,” Hutch said.
While daytime shifts are available, most members patrol during the evening and weekends to assist the RCMP. The goal is 12 patrols a month – an average of four hours per shift.
“We are not always driving, sometimes we just park and do surveillance,” the volunteers explained.
After a shift of touring around town as the ears and eyes of the RCMP, the COP member did not have much to report by the end of the ride along with the exception of some graffiti in Historic Downtown.
“I find the graffiti comes in ebbs and flows,” Hutch said.
“And some of it is really talented.”
Originating in 1994, the COP program has been running in Cochrane for more than two decades. The initiative began after the Community Policing Advisory Committee expressed an interest in forming a partnership with the RCMP to address the problems in the community in relation to break and enters, vandalism, impaired drivers and young offenders.
The mission of the volunteers is to create a safer community by patrolling, reporting and educating.
The volunteer goal is to have 30 members.
The COP program works under the umbrella of the Community Policing Advisory Committee and meets the first Monday of every month at 7 p.m.
For more information, go to cochranecop.com.
