Following a number of property crime incidents on the Western Hills, we’ve been looking at a series of proactive steps we can all take to protecting our community.
As part of this work, the MCA has engaged with the Petone Community Patrol to look at options for increasing coverage of the western hills. They have a hugely organised operation including vehicle, gear, training, and more. They act as “eyes and ears” for the Police and our community.
The Patrol has stepped up coverage of Maungaraki, Korokoro and Normandale as a result and we now have a shared vision of expanding the patrol and coverage on an ongoing basis.
HOWEVER: this is ONLY possible with more volunteers, and that’s where you come in :).
We’re looking to help find a number of new volunteers for the patrol from our community.
Volunteers receive full training and safety is paramount – they are in regular contact with Police and Hutt Cameras. This is very much an “eyes and ears” operation – the patrol never gets involved in any incident witnessed (although may help with cordons etc). When an incident is observed, the patrol retreats to a safe place, continues observing if it’s safe to do so, and the Police deal with any contact.
For this reason, there are no physical or age requirements for volunteers other than 18+ and police vetting; just common sense. Volunteers are always in pairs (or more) and use the Community Patrol vehicle, not your own. This helps create a visual deterrent, and it’s also often about helping out people as much as crime prevention and detection.
Volunteers are only expected to go out once every 6-8 weeks. Shifts are primarily Friday or Saturday nights, however the intention is to expand this if we can get enough new volunteers, especially those able to occasionally put in a few hours one evening during the week. Note that patrols will cover the western hills, Petone, and some other areas.
Obviously this is on a volunteer basis, however petrol etc for the patrol vehicle is covered. The first step is riding along as an observer for a couple of hours.
Potentially interested in helping out? Please email us or DM our Facebook page and we’ll be in touch. You don’t have to commit yet – just let us know you’re potentially keen and you can decide once you have more info and have had a chance to ride along.
We need your help with this. Let’s work together to keep our community safe.
We are stronger together.
Maungaraki Community Association
