Safety patrol ready for summer

By Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star - June 15, 2008

Chloe Lentz’s typical day at the office includes the usual dealing with people, setting up schedules and getting assignments from her boss. Her day will also include removing graffiti from business walls and picking up needles or assorted other drug paraphernalia. Lentz is one of six people who make the 2008 Vernon RCMP Safe Communities Unit’s Summer Safety Patrol. “We meet at the office, split up in teams of two, and we cover downtown, parks and beaches,” said Lentz, introduced to the media, along with her fellow Safety Patrol members. “We’re out there talking to seniors, talking to people working on the streets, talking to the public or business owners, anybody that wants to approach us.” Now in its eighth year of operation, the blue-shirt, blue-hat-clad Safety Patrol members perform non-enforcement duties from now until mid-August. Out on the street, they are an extra set of eyes and ears for the RCMP.

“The patrol can call members as they are hooked up by radios or cell phones if they see something suspicious,” said Rachael Neuhaus, community policing office co-ordinator, who oversees the duties performed by Lenz and fellow 2008 patrol members Taylor Horsting, Amanda Shelley, Spencer Price, Stephanie Stewart and team leader Petra Piper, the only returnee from 2007’s safety patrol team. “They are to observe, and call things in. They have no enforcement role whatsoever. “Most people will see them out and about in the streets, removing graffiti, picking up drug paraphernalia and interacting with the community on a one-to-one basis.” In 2007, Neuhaus said there were less than 24 incidents over the entire summer where they had to contact an RCMP member. Riding around town on bikes, the safety patrol, which also has access to a city-donated electric bike to help protect the environment, is in operation from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The members’ schedules can be adjusted if there’s an event in and around Vernon that the patrol is asked to attend. They will also hand out “positive coupons” for Slurpees as a reward for doing such things as wearing a helmet while riding a bike. “This is an amazing program,” said Neuhaus. “We have been so successful with our teams, I have to tip my hat to the teams that have gone before this one. They have developed a rapport in the city, they get out and interact with everybody on the street, they interact with visitors. “They act as liaisons and goodwill ambassadors for the city. Their success has been phenomenal.”Vernon RCMP Insp. Steve McVarnock called the safety patrol invaluable to the police.