REDLANDS>> The Redlands Citizen Patrol Academy held a graduation ceremony Wednesday, April 26, at Redlands City Hall, adding seven new members to the ranks of the Citizen Volunteer Patrol and Citizen Volunteer Park Rangers.
The nine-week CVP Academy provides volunteers training in citation writing, radio procedure, crime scene management, report writing, traffic control, patrol vehicle driving, Emergency Operations Center operations and other areas.
The new CVPs will receive an additional 32 hours of training in the field by experienced CVP Field Training Officers. They will then be ready for the full range of CVP duties.
New Citizen Volunteer Patrol members are Violet Farley, Daniela Trejo, David Wahe and Richard Thibedeau. New Citizen Volunteer Park Rangers are Tracey Stahler-Roche, Martin Lemon and William Donovan.
As part of the ceremony, all seven were sworn in by City Clerk Jeanne Donaldson. Chief of Police Mark Garcia welcomed the new members of the department and presented them with their badges. CVPR Tom Cawthon and CVP Gary McCormick coordinated the academy.
The Citizen Volunteer Patrol was founded as a highly visible, uniformed, unarmed, "eyes and ears" volunteer patrol force comprised largely of retired community members seeking an opportunity to assist their local police department in making the streets of the community a safer place. The first CVP Academy Class graduated in May 1991.
Since 1991 the CVP unit has expanded its responsibilities to include participation in all non-hazardous functions conducted by the department. Membership is also open to those community members who have special physical needs which might preclude field duties.
In January 2008, the Redlands Police Department added a new component to the Citizen Volunteer Patrol – the Citizen Volunteer Park Rangers.
CVPRs assist the Police Department in making City parks and orange groves, the Santa Ana River Wash and San Timoteo Canyon safer places for the community’s use.
CVPRs patrol on horseback, ATVs, Segways, mountain bikes and on foot. CVPRs are on the lookout for illegal activities in the patrol areas, including the use of alcohol, smoking in the parks, after-hours activities in the parks, significant trash accumulations and signs of suspicious activities.
The volunteer units currently include 78 members, including 44 CVPs and 34 Rangers. In 2016, CVPs volunteered 12,199 hours of service, equating to a value of $256,179 to the department. Rangers volunteered 7,479 hours in 2016 for a dollar value of $154,930 and a total for both units of 19,678 hours valued at $411,109.