The patrol which covers the areas around Lincoln, Prebbleton and Leeston has started to reintroduce the daytime patrols which had been stopped due to a lack of members.
Acting patrol chair Micheal Englebrecht said they have noticed more people raising issues on social media.
The most recent was an incident in Prebbleton where a 12-year-old was thrown to the ground and kicked by four teenagers unknown to him on Blakes Rd last Monday.
Englebrecht said incidents like this one were one of the reasons for bringing the daytime patrols back.
He said the patrol’s presence can act as a deterrent and they are also able to report anything they see to police.
Englebrecht hoped being visibly parked outside the schools with their patrol car would deter people from doing anything wrong.
At the start of the year, the patrol’s volunteer numbers took a dip, meaning they only focused on their nighttime patrols, sacrificing their daytime patrols.
He said an increase in volunteers has allowed the patrol to focus on the daytime patrols, which for now are running two days a week.
“We’ve been actively trying to grow the numbers over the last six months, and we’ve had quite a good response. We have increased by 21 new patrollers.
“In response to that we’ve decided we are going to try and do a few more daytime patrols . . . It is really just being a bit more visible around the schools to help with traffic and whatever else happens.”
The patrol still only has one car, but Englebrecht said if numbers grew, they may look at a second car.
Selwyn police did not respond to questions from the Selwyn Times about issues raised by the community patrol.
To volunteer for the Selwyn Community Patrol email: info@selwyncommunitypatrol.org.nz
