NIPAWIN — Following a presentation on setting up a Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP) in Nipawin, a handful of residents will travel to Edmonton to attend a two-day training session.
The session will show them how to train others.
On Aug. 23 at the Nipawin Evergreen Centre, Sgt. Rob Cozine, the provincial RCMP police co-ordinator for the COPP gave a presentation on the logistics of the program to an audience of about 60 Nipawin residents.
Nipawin’s detachment commander, Sgt. Terry Posnikoff, was also in attendance, and two members of the Nipawin RCMP have been assigned as liaisons for the program.
Barry Elliott, Nipawin’s administrator, said that through the meeting around six residents have shown a willingness to travel to Edmonton in late-September to attend a two-day training workshop that will give them the qualifications to train new COPP volunteers in the community. In the meantime, he said the town has reached out to SGI about program insurance.
“You have to be trained to be a part of the program. We’re hoping they will be able to come back and do some training of other interested folks,” Elliott said.
“It’s not an RCMP program and it’s not a town program, but we’ll provide whatever support resources we can to a grassroots group who develops their own board of directors and their own organization.”
Zac Derouin, one of the residents who spearheaded the July impromptu meeting at the town square that led to the meetings, said that a local COPP volunteer board is planned to be formed either before the training happens or after.
“The next step for the board formation is we have to have another meeting with all the people who want to join and have got their criminal record checks done because that’s a prerequisite for the program,” Derouin said.
“Once we know who all is joining we can have a meeting and vote on who's going to be on the board.”
Residents interested in joining the Nipawin program are instructed to contact Elliott at the town office, who can be reached at 306-862-9866.
The Citizens on Patrol Program is a community-led, police supported crime prevention, crime reduction program in Saskatchewan.
COPP works through unpaid volunteers having scheduled patrol routes where they patrol an area, communicating with an RCMP liaison. If they see something they deem suspicious they fill out a form on a COPP app to report it. When the liaison checks their own phone they will see the form and can investigate the report.
