The Citizens On Patrol Program (COPP) has a few more recruits following last week's Crime Prevention event, and every additional volunteer helps keep our city safer.

Rose works with COPP and says the forum held last Wednesday was extremely informative.

"It was a fairly good forum, as far as we were concerned, of interested folks who wanted to join COPP," says Rose. "It was disappointing, though, that there wasn't more people involved that would come out to it. I know the RCMP put a lot of work into it, but it was very good. We had about eight people come to our table that said they would be interested, and we've already got four that have completed their paperwork. So, now the next step will be to take it to the executive and the membership and get it approved, and then we do the training."

Rose says they would have a good amount of members if there were an additional five.

"Before COVID, we ran 25 to 40 members all the time, and after COVID, we lost a few," notes Rose. "Some of the younger ones have moved away to take other jobs. So, we're down to 19 members and it would be nice to be able to get up to 20 to 25, something like that. It's hard to do the whole city and Peony Farm with just a handful of folks."

She notes the forum presented a great explanation of how vital it is for residents to help fight crime. 

"This forum was very well-presented and there were several tables there that had good ideas about how you can help yourself to keep yourself safe in your property," continues Rose. "So, we're hoping that people will take advantage of that. I know the RCMP put out several publications on PortageOnline there for about a couple of weeks and it was very good."

Rose says everybody knows that there's a problem in Portage and it's easy to sit behind the computer and complain, but people you attend these events to learn new things. 

"There are so many things that you can do to keep your property safe," adds Rose. "These include security lights, proper lighting, outside video cameras, keeping your property locked up, and don't leave your stuff in your car unlocked."

She says COPP acts like the eyes and ears of the RCMP. 

"They've often said how much they appreciate our patrol because their officers can't be everywhere all the time," notes Rose. "So, it's very important for us to get out on those night patrols and new patrol anywhere from 8:00 o'clock at night until 5:00 in the morning. So we try and do as much as we can."

Rose adds they have daytime patrols, too, and they could really use more help. She says some of their members have to pull double-duty to cover all the bases. Contact the RCMP if you'd like to get involved.