Going on 31 years now, the Citizens On Patrol Program in Portage la Prairie has been helping to keep our homes safe. The volunteers drive around make house checks while you're away from home for an extended amount of time, and immediately report anything suspicious to the local RCMP detachment. 

They're reaching out this week for your help to continue their great efforts. Chairperson Charlie says they're holding a recruitment evening next Wednesday from 6:00 o'clock to 8:00 at Stride Place. He notes those who get involved are part of many extra-curricular activities that help raise funds for the effort.

"Most of it goes, or all of it goes, to people that are working with children," says Charlie. "The idea is, if you keep children busy, it's part of the crime prevention things that we do. We've raised just about $60,000 in our golf tournaments, and those are really well-attended and a lot of fun. Then we do some barbecues and the schools help us with that, particularly Arthur Meighen and Crescentview. And we raised money that we give to ROK (Recreation Opportunities for Kids Central) and Big Brothers and Big Sisters."

He notes they also help Kids Sport which is an organization that operates out of Morden. 

Charlie says some other charities are also included and they're glad to help send donations to the new recreation hill that Junk Yard Dogs Cycling Club is working on at, what has been locally known as, toboggan hill.

He adds he's a big part of the house check activities that COPP is engaged in.

"That's for those who go away for the winter, mainly," says Charlie. "But sometimes it's just people that go away for a week or people that go away for two weeks. What we do is just do curbside check for their properties. We don't get out of our cars. People still have to meet insurance requirements by their own means, but it is something that people really appreciate that use the service, knowing that somebody's checking on their place from time to time."

He says you can make a simple call to ensure your home is being watched by the patrol while you're away.  

Charlie says COPP is the eyes and ears of the RCMP, when people are out on patrol. He notes they look for safety factors, as well. 

"If there's some lighting needed around a business, we would recommend that they do that," adds Charlie. "So, a letter would be sent to them to remind them that perhaps that would be a good thing for them to do to prevent some crime around their properties. And I guess the other thing is that usually people go out for three or four hours, and it's usually at night, of course. We can do it during the daytime, as well, because things happen in daylight as well as in darkness. So, that's really the purpose of what we do."

Charlie says they don't get involved with people and don't encounter people. 

"That's not our job," he adds. "We report to, and we'll call on, the RCMP if we see something that needs attention."
 

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