Citizens’ On Patrol (C.O.P.) Patrols Begin!

The COP Program will be up and running this week. On July 26th, three of your neighbors successfully completed the COP Training course with the Arlington P.D. Now, we have our necessary equipment and plan to begin patrols this week.

Your neighbors on COP Patrol will be easily recognized- if on a walking patrol, we will be wearing a blue vest with yellow reflective trim that says “Citizens on Patrol”, and if driving, we will wear the vest and our vehicle will sport magnetic signs on the front and sides for the COP Program. We will also always be wearing an official Arlington P.D. Volunteer picture ID badge that will identify us with the program.

When on patrol, we may be carrying a flashlight and using it to shine into dark alleys, front porches or driveways to check for suspicious activity, watching for individuals who may be engaged in suspicious activity, burned out street lights, or code violations. If we see a garage door open with no one in sight, we may knock on the door and advise you to close your door, (or leave a door hanger that we saw the door open). Please ask to see an ID badge before you open the door to anyone who knocks. If you see one of our patrols, feel free to approach us to report any concerns you may have. We have a fast-track system to report neighborhood concerns that go straight to the APD Community Services Division for immediate attention. If we, while on patrol, see something that seems to need police attention, we will not be confronting suspects ourselves, but will call 9-1-1 from our car or foot patrol. We are not officers, and we are not armed, we are simply neighbors keeping an active eye on your homes, streets and businesses in an active manner.

We plan to patrol neighborhoods within the Area Watch boundaries: Arkansas Ln. (north), Medlin (east), Mayfield Rd. (south), and Fielder Rd. (west). We also plan to drive through the parking lots of the strip shopping center on the southwest corner of Medlin/Arkansas, the Advent Lutheran Church (Cooper/Mayfield), Gunn Jr. High, Short Elementary, and the city park across from Short. Hopefully, you will not be able to predict when we will come through your neighborhood. The idea is to vary our routes and times so the bad guys cannot predict our patterns.

We look forward to serving you, our neighbors and community, with the COP Program. If you desire, please feel free to contact the Arlington Police Department’s Community Services Division to check on the legitimacy of the Area Watch COP Program and volunteers. You may contact the program director, Curtice Ervin, or Sgt. Matt Pedersen for information about our program and individuals involved. If you are interested in participating (obviously 3 people will not be able to do much on our own), the next training class is scheduled for October 11, 2008. Please contact Doug Arnold for an application, or visit the A.P.D. website, navigate to the Crime Prevention link, then to the COP Program link at the bottom of that page.

Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you out in the neighborhoods!