Citizens On Patrol (COP) and Olds RCMP combined to cut crime in town, according to COP past-president Vince Clarke.
However, he says precise stats won't be available until later.
Clarke made that statement following the Olds COP's annual general meeting, held Thursday, Sept. 13.
"We've had a great impact on the community as well as hard work from the RCMP. So I guess in tandem with one another, we've had an excellent impact on just safety and overall community crime," Clarke said.
"COP patrols had a lot of success, but I mean obviously, the heavy lifting is all done by the RCMP."
Just under 30 people attended that meeting, held at the fire hall.
Unfortunately, COP has seen a decline in membership since it was officially formed in late November last year, and that's something Clarke hopes can be rectified.
Clarke says at its peak in the December through February period, the Olds COP had a membership of about 70 people. By this spring/summer, that figure had fallen to the current membership of about 55.
Clarke says that's not a disaster. The group still has enough members to patrol the streets in Olds on nights and weekends. But they could always do more with more people. So his goal is to increase membership.
"We still have healthy numbers. We're not struggling, by any means, but we always have lots of room for more people. I mean, the more the merrier," he said.
"People tend to get excited and get into it and commit in the first few months I think. And then I'm not too sure what happens, but basically, when we got to the summer, people kind of started losing interest," Clarke added.
"I think it's maybe the decline in crime. People feel like they maybe don't need to participate as much."
He said another factor is summer itself.
"In the summertime, everyone's got family and travelling and vacations," Clarke said. "Camping kind of eats into the patrol time."
Yet another factor in the decline in membership was that several people left town.
"We had quite a few members move away and change careers to other places, so that was a little bit of a drawback," Clarke said. "That's just life."
During the meeting, a new executive was chosen for a two-year term.
Gord Bueckert is president, Phyllis Harpeniuk is vice-president, Jimmy Jeong is secretary.
Directors at large were also chosen. Clarke is past-president. Other board members include Shane Matchullis and Emery Hagerty.
Clarke said he stepped down from his previous role as president due primarily to family commitments.
"We've got two small children at home," he said. "I still want to be involved, maybe just not such an influential position at this time."
Also during the meeting, COP members passed bylaws that retooled generic bylaws to fit conditions in Olds.
"Basically we're a little functioning committee now," Clarke said. "We're a completely self-sufficient COP."
