The White Settlement Police Department is launching an innovative community engagement program.
It's called Dog Walker Watch -- people being on the lookout for suspicious activity while out walking their dogs.
"It leverages our community members who have pets that walk their dogs to teach them how to observe and respond and report suspicious activity," says Christopher Cook, White Settlement police chief. "It's a force multiplier from the perspective that we have extra eyes and ears on the street."
The department recently held a training session, teaching people what constitutes suspicious activity and how to properly report it -- especially not intervening themselves.
"We teach them not to really get involved," says Cook, "but really how to report that to police departments."
White Settlement PD launches Dog Walker Watch community engagement programCook says the program will greatly enhance public safety.
"About 95% of all arrests are initiated from a citizen's phone call," Cook notes. "And so it really makes sense to us to involve and increase our exposure and leverage something that's already occurring in our community, which is dog walkers."
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