More town patrollers wanted

KEEPING AN EYE OUT: Cheryl Watson who spoke to the Masterton District Council this week on the community street patrols.PHOTO/FILE

A group helping combat crime in Masterton by being the "eyes and ears" of the police wants more people to join up as volunteers.

The Masterton Community Patrol relies on about seven volunteers to cruise the town on night-time patrols and to help man surveillance cameras at the police station.

This week patrol volunteer Cheryl Watson spoke to the Masterton District Council on the work done by the patrol, which has been helping in the fight against crime for 15 years mostly between 10pm and 2.30am "when most people are curled up in bed asleep".

Mrs Watson said the patrol could do with perhaps up to 10 more volunteers to help out with patrols that mainly concentrated on Friday and Saturday night town surveillance but could extend to Thursday nights "or on any other night if needed".

Mrs Watson said on a typical night the volunteers checked with police over what were regarded as the "hot spots" where crimes such as burglaries were happening and would act on that information.

She said it was not the role of the patrollers to intervene when a crime or suspicious behaviour were detected but to communicate with police.

Patrol work was shifting to become more "overt than covert", she said, and it was hoped dashcam cameras could soon be supplied for vehicles.

Mrs Watson said some day work was involved, especially in the central business district during school holidays.

She said there were patrols in other Wairarapa towns. In Featherston volunteers had helped in the detection of people responsible for a murder.

Masterton Mayor Lyn Patterson said she had taken the time to go on night patrol with the Masterton Community Patrol and found it to be "awesome".

"I really enjoyed it and it is amazing what they notice happening at night."