Another meeting of the Citizens on Patrol (COP) organization is slated for Thursday evening (June 15).
The meeting will be run by the town’s new community safety officer, Dave Pruden with Smithers Staff Sgt. Mark Smaill and the Town of Smithers’ director Ryan Coltura also in attendance.
Topics on the agenda include discussing the Town’s and RCMP’s roles with the volunteer organization; the programs administered in the past and what the future holds for COP.
There was a huge turnout at the last meeting in Novemeber, with plenty of interest from community members about breathing new life into the organization.
At that meeting, Sgt. Smaill said just a few years ago with over 40 volunteers, the Smithers COP group was the envy of other towns in B.C. and he said he was hoping that would return.
COVID-19 and volunteer burnout were essentially the death knell for the group.
Recent upticks in burglaries, theft, and various other crimes, however, have generated the impetus for the group to become re-energized.
Originally formed in 1993 after a rash of crime in the downtown core of Smithers, the group had rotating foot and eventually vehicle patrols. With a van donated by Frontier Chrysler and other community partners, the group was easily identifiable and acted as a deterrent to crime.
COP will be run from the community policing office on First Street in Smithers, which is where people may also sign up.
The program is hoping to attract 40 volunteers.
The June 15 meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Sunshine Inn.
READ MORE: Citizens on Patrol meeting attracts large turn-out
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