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Citizen Patrol Interest Flops

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By ANGELA DELGADO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2008

Updated: 01/03/2008 06:24 pm

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Jennifer Oswald's plan to serve her neighborhood as part of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Volunteer Citizen Patrol will have to wait.

Due to apathy, the program will not be used in Town 'N Country, she said. Training will soon begin in Bloomingdale instead.

"That's a shame," said Oswald, who has lived in Twelve Oaks for the past seven years. "I hear so many people complain, yet nobody is willing to do anything about it."

Sgt. Carlos Somellan of the Sheriff's Crime Prevention bureau, was equally disappointed.

"We're looking for neighborhoods and communities that want to help themselves," he said. "If your community is willing to step out and form a partnership with the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office," its members will help you.

In September, Deputy Faith Nadel, then the sheriff's office volunteer program coordinator, held a workshop in Town 'N Country to inform interested parties about the citizen patrol. Only eight people attended.

The sheriff's office pays for the training, so at least 15 people must be signed on at a time for it to be cost effective, Somellan said.

When the sheriff's staff met with folks in Bloomingdale, Somellan said 30 people showed. In less than a week, 20 applied for the program.

The citizen patrol began in Hillsborough County in March. As of September, the program had 39 volunteers who patrol Apollo Beach and Westchase, the pilot neighborhoods chosen for their combination of high property crime and low violent crime.

Volunteers undergo 50 hours of training so they can assist with various duties such as working school crossings and directing traffic.

Their duties are to assist but not put themselves in danger. They receive uniforms, use hand-held radios that keep them in contact with dispatchers and deputies and make their rounds in patrol cars that are marked and equipped similar to deputy cruisers.

The program grew out of the Freedom Corps after the Sept. 11 attacks, and since its inception in Hillsborough, crime has dropped 38 percent in Apollo Beach and 18 percent in Westchase, according to sheriff's Maj. Albert Frost.

The goal is to take the program countywide. Any community interested and committed to participating is welcome.

"I'm begging them," Somellan said. "We're giving them cars. I'm giving you a uniform. I'm giving you all the training. The sheriff is giving them everything they need, but we need the enthusiasm that is put out from this half to come from the community itself."

Oswald and fellow Town 'N Country resident Bill Browne were among the few who signed up and had gone through the process of background checks, interviews and fingerprinting.

"I was assuming it might happen after the first of the year, but I guess not," Browne said of Town 'N Country's loss of the program. "It's unfortunate because it does provide a service. It helps the sheriff's office out, but it's more of a self-serving gesture; what's not to like?"

Although the program will not be in Town 'N Country, Browne and Oswald said they are willing to participate in the program as long as they remain close to home.

"I'd like to be optimistic that they haven't written Town 'N Country off entirely," Browne said.

Somellan said there is a chance for Town 'N Country to participate in the program. If the community gets a base together and proves it is worth the time, the sheriff's office will hold another workshop.

"All we need is excitement from the community, and we will be there," he said. "They're a very important part of this community. Town 'N Country houses all types of people, and they are very important to us, and we want to do whatever we can to make it safer."

Reporter Angela Delgado can be reached at (813) 865-1501 or adelgado@tampatrib.com.

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