Sechelt residents Gary Trinder and Sarah Rose Birge want to make one thing very clear — the new Sechelt Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P.) Society they recently created, is in no way a vigilante group.
“One of the things that I think is important to highlight is that the society is about helping people feel safer in their communities and deterring crime. And it's not a persecution of any specific group of individuals,” says Birge.
Trinder agrees and notes that Staff Sgt. Jennifer Prunty, detachment commander for the Sunshine Coast RCMP, warned them that if the society's goal was to harass the residents of the tent city on Hightide Avenue and the RainCity shelter, the RCMP could not condone their efforts.
“We both felt the same way, like if anyone said, ‘I want to join because I want to walk up and down that strip,’ then I'm sorry, because the society is more around disrupting potential crime by being visible in patrols of two or more, either in cars or on bicycles or on foot,” says Trinder.
Citizens On Patrol is a community based, crime prevention program, which operates with the co-operation of local law enforcement agencies across Canada. Through observation, documentation and reporting, C.O.P. members provide a visible presence in their communities while patrolling by vehicle, on foot, by bicycle or other means with a goal to act as the extended “eyes and ears” of local law enforcement agencies.
Prunty confirmed she’s spoken to Trinder about the formation of the Sechelt C.O.P. group. She explained, there are several different types of citizen patrol organizations and RCMP involvement can range from organizing and coordinating the program to a completely separate and distinct organization registered under the BC Societies Act.
“This second type is the case with the Sechelt program,” she said. “We will welcome information sharing with the group in terms of identifying local crime trends and ‘hot spots,’ but they will not be under the coordination or direction of the RCMP.”
Trinder says he got the idea for a volunteer-driven group after attending two recent community safety meetings, held by the District of Sechelt in partnership with the RCMP, in response to concerns from many residents about increased crime. Meanwhile, Birge was also becoming concerned about a reported escalation in crime.
“I just started doing quite a bit of research around Sechelt and the Coast area and it has something like the third largest retirement population in Canada, so, it's an extremely vulnerable community,” she says. “So, I started thinking alright, what can we do to make ourselves less of an easy target? Because I think if we can deter the perception that we are an easy target through some sort of structure and organization — and offer a spot for the community to come together and work on that together — then perhaps we could have a positive impact in deterring the crime that people are experiencing. And then one of the other personal concerns that I had was, once it started becoming home invasions, that's when I got really scared.”
It was that common desire to take action that brought Trinder and Birge in contact with each other in the first place, as well as social media including a community WhatsApp chat group.
“It was sort of just seeing that there were people taking small initiatives in their smaller collectives and smaller neighborhoods but there was, beyond that, no real resources for anyone who wanted to get involved just in their immediate neighborhoods and sort of make a little bit more of an impact,” says Birge.
They initially thought a neighbourhood Block Watch program would be the way to go, but discovered the local RCMP detachment doesn’t have the resources to help coordinate it. They also decided that, rather than focussing on what’s wrong in Sechelt, they would try and find some solutions and a citizens patrol seemed like the way to go.
Realizing there was a lack of data for identifying high-crime areas, one of the first things they did was create an incident reporting form. They then met a volunteer who is helping them translate that data onto a map.
“And so, there is now a map available where you can visualize where these crimes are happening and when and what the dates are,” says Birge.
The next steps for the Sechelt Citizens on Patrol Society include taking volunteer applications, which will be vetted, and raising money for expenses, such as printing, website maintenance, and possibly, the design of a vest, hat, T-shirt or safety vest, which would identify members.
Donna Bell, a District of Sechelt councillor and head of the district’s safety committee, says she has met with both Trinder and Birge and the idea of some funding for the group is being considered.
“Because it's budget time, so we’re considering what are the things we want to support? What can we do?” she says. “So, the Citizens on Patrol is certainly one of those initiatives that has come up.”
But, Bell adds, while the district supports the initiative, what that is going to look like officially has yet to be decided.
“It’s early days,” says Bell.
The website for the Sechelt C.O.P. Society can be fiound at secheltcop.ca.
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