This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
The Citizen's Volunteer Program (CVP) "allows members of the community to volunteer their time to assist the Longmont Police Services and the City of Longmont by providing support to law enforcement services," according to the City of Longmont website.
Master Officer Keith Bell sat down to talk about the CVP with the Longmont Observer. Officer Bell has managed the program for the last 3 years.
According to Officer Bell, the role of the CVP is to be the "eyes and ears" of the Longmont Police Department (LPD). "They drive around in pairs and they just look for anything. And anything suspicious they would call it in on the radio."
These volunteers do not engage in anything physical, carry weapons nor are they allowed to write citations. The role of a CVP is to alert police officers of a problem that requires law enforcement's attention.
In addition, the CVP may be seen assisting in a traffic accident by controlling the traffic, securing a scene for the SWAT team or manning barricades, especially when Main Street is closed for events. Additionally, these volunteers aid officers in looking for missing persons.
John Kirkpatrick has been a member since the original class of CVP volunteers in 2005. He states that being a CVP can be difficult at times because, "half of the community sees you and wants to help, the other half wants to run away. But we are not here to cause a problem, we are here to help. We are here to make life in the community easier and more carefree."
The Citizen's Volunteer Patrol began in 2005 when a couple from Del Rey Beach, Florida moved to Longmont. "They approached Chief Butler and told him about the program they had in Del Rey Beach which was a similar type thing, a volunteer patrol," states Officer Bell.
Since then the LPD has been recruiting volunteers. Currently, the CVP has 25 volunteers but has had as many as 48 in some years.
Mike Mullin, who has also volunteered with the CVP since 2005 states, "I enjoy working with law enforcement officers. The cops are very good, very dedicated people that are doing everything they can to make the community safer, and we’re helping them do that."
When asked why having a volunteer patrol was important, Officer Bell said:
"I think it’s just a sense of community. When you are working with the community you want that relationship, so what better than having, say, 25 people from your community who work with you that can spread the word to all of their friends and neighbors. They’re just welcomed to be there to help. The volunteers are really doing a service to the city and the police department."
Kirkpatrick agrees that building community is an important part of a CVP's job. He says, "it is rewarding getting to help people you don't necessarily get to meet in life. You get to help them on not good days and help make that day better."
"A lot of times they [community members] look at us and they get mad because they wanna go here and they can’t go there because there is a barricade behind us. We’re trying to help, we’re not trying to hinder them. We’re trying to figure out how to make it work for everybody. There’s an awful lot of things like that that we do that are part of the background, and most people don’t realize that we’re out there trying to help them and help the city," says Mullin.
CVPs go through a training program at an academy to bring them insight on topics such as ethics, traffic, what to look for on patrol and conflict resolution. After the academy, volunteers go into field training where they ride with veteran field training officers until that officer believes the volunteer is ready. After that, the volunteers are allowed to go on patrol with a veteran partner. The training can take six months.
"It’s formal, the training. They have to pass everything, we don’t just throw people out in there, because it’s a law vehicle, it says Volunteer, it represents the city," says Officer Bell.
However, some things are only learned on the job. Kirkpatrick learned that the job of an officer is harder than he believed it to be. "You have to always be cognizant of what is going on around you."
For Mullin, he learned a new respect for patience. He came from the business world and says,
"if you see something that needs to be done, you make it happen. When you are working with the police department, it requires a lot of people to give approvals when you come up with an idea to try something. And, it’s been kinda frustrating, but it’s been a learning experience to learn to slow down, be patient. You come up with a good idea, it will probably eventually happen and be put into effect, but it takes a long time sometimes to make that happen."
According to Officer Bell, one of the perks of being a member of the CVP is the camaraderie among the group. "We meet the second Tuesday of every month. It's sort of a social event too. We usually have pizza and dessert, and you know, just generally chat. We do some training at the meeting."
Officer Bell invites the Longmont community to get to know their CVP better and to volunteer to make Longmont a better place. They meet the second Tuesday of every month. For more information on the CVP and to learn how to volunteer, click this link.
