Sandy Springs, GA is a northern suburb of Atlanta and has a wonderful police department. I respect the police as I have walked in their shoes as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Military Police where I was a Military Police Platoon Leader and an Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Narcotic Detection Squad at Ft. Benning, Georgia from 1972-1974. To follow up my desire to “engage” with the community, my neighbor and friend, Laird Canby, and I decided to participate in the Sandy Springs Police Department’s Citizen On Patrol training class 031. Laird is the tall guy standing with me in front of his Ford Pickup Truck. (See pictures below)

From the SSPD website:

The Citizens on Patrol program offers interested residents a volunteer opportunity to partner with the Sandy Springs Police Department. This popular program allows citizens, who have received advanced training, the opportunity to assist at traffic accident scenes to direct traffic, assist public works by directing traffic at work sites, participate in traffic control at public events, and conduct residence and business checks when the owners are out of town. These volunteers attend the Citizen’s Police Academy and then participate in an additional 12-week course specifically tailored to train them in the following areas:

Instruction in traffic control and traffic direction
Briefings regarding crime analysis, patterns, and trends, as well as areas where crime is particularly high, requiring extra patrols
Instruction in first aid and the use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED)
Criminal investigation, defensive tactics, and verbal judo
Training to issue handicapped parking violation tickets ensuring our citizens who are handicapped have access to the designated parking spaces
A highlight of the training program is the Citizen on Patrol Vehicle Operations Course (COPVOC). This course is an 8-hour series designed to familiarize the COPs with the features and capabilities of the vehicles they will be operating. The course consists of braking drills, driving in reverse exercises, and a specially-designed cone course that tests their skill in moving a car within a tightly confined space.

The COPs team patrols as two-person units in specially-marked police cars which strongly resemble the vehicles utilized by sworn officers. The patrols utilize the same radio system as sworn officers and communicate with the same city-wide 9-1-1 system as the sworn officers.

The COPs wear a uniform that projects their image and authority but is not a police uniform.

As our class was ongoing during COVID there were some challenges with scheduling some of the planned programs the second half of the training was delayed several months and we never actually became fully certified and placed “On Patrol”. Both COVID and my retirement and subsequent sale of our house and travel plans led me to decline the invitation to complete the 2nd phase of the program but I enjoyed the portion we did complete and would have enjoyed the camaraderie and challenge to be a part of this wonderful program.