A citizen observer is a resident appointed by the

chief of police Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

, or by the deputy

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

, who has met the specific application, background and training requirements for patrolling his or her

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rus ...

to observe and report suspicious persons and

criminal activity In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

. A citizen observer also seeks to mediate between

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

and

civilians Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

in an effort to establish unity between them. Occasionally, a citizen observer helps law enforcement in the patrolling of businesses as well. A citizen observer is a civilian working on behalf of law enforcement and does not have law enforcement titles, authority or prerogatives. An organization of citizen observers established by a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

is called a ''citizen observer patrol'' (COP). In large cities where a citizen observer patrol is present, crime is often minimized considerably and fewer criminal acts go unreported to authorities. In addition, civilians in the community feel more secure, and better relations exist between law enforcement and them. CitizenObserver.com is a Saint Paul, MN company founded by former Minnesota state Representative John Jordan and author Scotty Roberts after the shooting of Roberts mom by Harvey LaDoucer. John Jordan and Saint Paul resident Terry Troy, along with Citizen Observer president Terry Halsch, created and patented a set of law enforcement tools now used by a number of police departments throughout the United States.

References

{{unreferenced, date=March 2014

External links

Citizen ObserverNeighbourhood Watch App
Join Neighbourhood Watch by downloading the app now ! Law enforcement in the United States Legal professions Neighborhood watch organizations

References

See also

External links