Late in the evening, as most of Merritt is calling it a day, a group of dedicated volunteers heads out on patrol to keep an eye on the city.

While the RCMP is of course responsible for keeping the streets of Merritt free of crime, the local Citizens on Patrol volunteers are committed to assisting them by observing and reporting what they see.

“We are not police officers,” said volunteer coordinator Lonni (volunteers preferred not to share their last names). “We are just an extra set of eyes and ears for the RCMP because they can’t be everywhere.”

On Wednesday, March 16, I had the opportunity to tag along with volunteers Lonni and Sharon on a patrol to get a taste of what they do and chat with them along the way.

We met at 8 p.m. at City Hall where we signed in and checked the radios before heading out in Sharon’s vehicle. Another volunteer, Tom, was on duty at base and periodically checked in with us via radio so make sure everything was OK.

Volunteers generally go on four-hour patrols on various nights of the week, though volunteers patrol more frequently during the summer. Lonni said there are roughly about 35 volunteers involved with the Citizens on Patrol program that is co-sponsored by the RCMP and the City of Merritt and they are always looking for more. Applications can be picked up at the Community Policing Office.

New volunteers would head out with Lonni and Sharon like I did for training to learn what to look for, what they would call in and what they would simply make a record of.

“Basically we look for things that don’t seem right,” explained Sharon as we checked school yards, back alleys and main roads as well. “People messing around, broken windows, kids hanging around school yards and drinking.”

“You get to know areas and you can tell if something’s not right,” added Lonni explaining that there really aren’t any places that the volunteers don’t check.

While volunteers are only asked to commit to patrolling about once a month, Sharon and Lonni estimated going out approximately 44 times last year and as we drove they joked that if anything “exciting” happens they are usually there.

Mainly it’s a way to give back to the community, said Sharon.

Citizens on Patrol communicate frequently with the RCMP and occasionally the RCMP will ask them to be on the look out for something in particular.

This time, however, we called it a night at midnight without having had to report anything suspicious. We decided this was a good thing.

“If we go out and nothing happens, at least we know we’re being a deterrent,” said Lonni.