Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we often hear about the growth in crimes and other unwanted activities in Yellowknife, but today I'd like to highlight and recognize the good work being done by the Citizens on Patrol program and the newly established Community Services Patrol program being run under the leadership of Yellowknife Coalition of Community Wellness.
Mr. Speaker, in 2006, the COPS program completed 81 patrols, assisted in traffic direction and check stops on a number of occasions, they assisted the RCMP with security at youth dances, they assist the RCMP in other areas, they sort of cover their backs to free the RCMP to do their work. These people are all volunteers. They go out on weekends, they patrol the streets. Last year they reported up to 212 incidents, many of which led to arrests. They were involved in location of stolen vehicles, location of wanted persons, location of stolen property, location and retrieval of stolen bikes.
This year they're starting a new program called CSP, which stands for Community Services Patrol. This is based on an Alaskan model where CSP's mandate goes beyond just observing and reporting. They will have additional resources of medevacs and other people who could get directly involved. This should also result in reducing the time required for the RCMP.
Mr. Speaker, this year they were able to use some of the money that they saved to buy some of the gear for the CSP people so they could be more recognizable. Also, they are reaching out to communities outside of Yellowknife. They've done training of patrollers in the town of Inuvik and I know they are working with people in Behchoko and Ndilo and Detah to see how these programs could be transferred there.
Another thing that I would really like to mention is the work of the coordinator, Mike Lowing, who had a contract given to them to set up this CSP program. The money was received from the crime prevention program from the federal government. But after doing all the work that he did, he decided that he wanted to be a volunteer and he declined to take that money. So I just want to highlight what great work this is and I want to thank Mike Lowing and the Yellowknife Coalition of Community Wellness for a job well done. Thank you very much.
---Applause