Police and Community Patrol brief retailers on holiday precautions

A meeting of retailers on Tuesday night, called by the Raglan Chamber of Commerce,  briefed retailers on precautions to take over the holiday period. Police from the Raglan Station and the Raglan Community Patrol  (sometimes called the Nightowls)  also covered  the services they would be providing.  The Raglan Police Station has recently been upgraded to a four man unit, which allows one constable to be on “standby” during the night time hours, providing a prompt police presence should the need arise.    On New Year’s Eve additional staff will be on duty.

The Community Patrol then explained the purpose of their group, how they operate and what activities they would be undertaking over the holiday period.  The group was formed as the result of a public meeting in Raglan during October 1997. This resulted in volunteers giving their names to local police officers, who vetted those volunteering and gave the go ahead for the first patrol to start on 1st December 1997. A group of volunteers started and some of the original members are still with the group. Patrols initially went out every night with a driver and observer doing a patrol of two to three hours duration, at the time when the police station was unmanned, filling in a patrol sheet report that was left at the police station for the local constable to read next day. This procedure has continued but the patrol now operates five days out of the seven. The Raglan patrol now has radio contact with the police and may where necessary contact Police Northern Communications directly. The police occasionally request our assistance to check noise or if a disturbance is occurring, before they dispatch a unit from Hamilton or call out our Raglan constables.

The Community Patrol operates a strict “eyes and ears” only policy, and do not encourage any of their volunteers to leave the vehicle while on patrol.   The patrols have been credited with a downturn in the night time crime rate, which was shown by a 30% drop in burglaries during the first year of operation. Overnight figures have generally remained at these lower levels since that time, which gives a good indication that our efforts are worthwhile.

A monthly roster is issued by the coordinator and each volunteer is expected to make themselves available for that patrol, or arrange an alternative with another volunteer.   This seems to work well for the Raglan group.  Volunteers receive very little in return for their efforts on patrol, only receiving a meal at the Annual General Meeting, to compensate them for the time and efforts.

Raglan Community Patrol Charitable Trust
c/o 7a Stewart St, Raglan 3225
Office Phone 07 825 6532,  Secretary Mobile 027 256 7101