What a great effort from our community patrol

Sharron Pardoe Reporter from Upper Hutt Leader

The Upper Hutt Community Patrol earned its name of the "extra eyes and ears of the police" recently after members helped locate the driver of a stolen vehicle.

During a usual Saturday night patrol checking schools and trouble spots, an policeman asked them to keep an eye out for a red Toyota Camry after police had to abandon a pursuit of the stolen vehicle.

They had the first three letters of the car's number plate and 45 minutes later found an abandoned car that fitted the description.

Patrol member Anthony Moen said they contacted police and linked it back to a person they had talked to earlier at the old CIT grounds who they had "not expected to be there at that time of night".
He had said he was from out of town and was looking for a petrol station or train station so we gave him directions and observed which way he went."

Police units, including a dog squad, started searching for the man and he was found at a nearby property.

Moen said the incident proved the value of the patrol. "iI we hadn't run into that person, the police wouldn't have had a lot of information to go on."

It was the first time the group had been able to give the police information "while it was still hot" and have it result in an arrest.

It was validating for them and rewarding for the police. "It shows our power."

He encouraged anyone who saw anything odd or suspicious to report it to the police.

Alan Cappleman, who is the sergeant in charge of community police in the Hutt Valley North, said the community patrol volunteers were certainly valued. "We can't underestimate the value of them."