The eyes and ears of the community: an examination of a Canadian volunteer police program

While volunteers play a pivotal role within policing and the criminal justice system, they are often overlooked in research. Previous research on police volunteers within the Canadian context has focused on auxiliary officers, but few have looked at policing volunteers beyond this group. This article draws upon in-depth interviews to examine the experiences and perceptions of members of a Canadian police volunteer program, Citizens on Patrol. Citizens on Patrol is a Canadian-wide program that uses volunteers to support existing police personnel to address a variety of minor issues and community complaints, as well as perform community outreach. Our findings suggest that COP volunteers play an important role in community safety while simultaneously alleviating some of the pressure on police resources. Volunteers, for the most part, take on roles that are impactful. We discuss the implications of our findings and ways to enhance volunteer experiences at police services.