Pam and Keith Crosse on the Tuesday Community Patrol keeping an eye out for a stolen car from Palmerston North.
Pam and Keith Crosse on the Tuesday Community Patrol keeping an eye out for a stolen car from Palmerston North.
Community patrollers are out in force now that lockdown rules have been relaxed. They started back once level 2 was in place doing daily patrols for three hours a day in Dannevirke with an extension on Fridays touring the Norsewood-Makotuku-Ormondville neighbourhood as well.
The daily patrol is fairly extensive, takingin the main shopping area, The Warehouse and New World, in particular, and circulating past the schools and parks. Keith Crosse, who was on duty with wife Pam on Tuesday, said patrollers are the eyes and ears for the police, and their bright regalia is purposely designed to attract attention and provide a sense of security for residents, especially the elderly.
Night patrols over the weekends started on Friday, June 5. Patrollers are enjoying the new vehicle – a Hyundai ix35, which has the extra capability that comes with 4WD and is especially useful for a rural-based community patrol.
It also provides better elevation for observational purposes and a more comfortable set-up for night patrollers, who always clock longer vehicle hours and regularly exceed the 100 kilometres of distance travelled in a single patrol duty. Keith says comparing it to its predecessor is like "chalk and cheese".
Of course, the Dannevirke Community Patrol was visible during lockdown too when members under 70 years volunteered to man the entrance to New World supermarket, carrying out a role which has continued through level 2.
Owner Bruce Jenkins is hugely grateful for their role freeing up staff to stock shelves and sheltering the younger staff from pressure by customers in the early days.
Chairman of the Community Patrol Murray Lawson says having so many members over 70 was a problem but a few new additions have made the organisation easier to run.
The organisation is always interested to hear from people in the community genuinely interested in considering being a community patrol member, a process which requires a police validation and the undertaking of some basic patrol training. Contact Murray at 027 286 2024.
