Over a year since it's revival, the Okotoks Citizens On Patrol Program has shown how great of a tool it can be to help local law enforcement.

COP members started going out on patrols in February they've been an extra set of eyes and ears for the RCMP.

President of Okotoks COP Denise Geiger says it's been a great first year for them.

"It's going really well we've recruited around 21 members at this point," she says. "We're able to be out helping the RCMP on Friday and Saturday evenings with a couple of patrols each evening and things are looking really good."

The process for becoming a member of COP is quite simple as all you have to is go to the Southridge Emergency Services Building and pick-up an application.

Geiger says it's a monthly commitment.

"The minimum requirement that we're asking of people who are interested in joining the program is a once a month patrol which can be between four and six hours. Then we also hold monthly meeting that lasts about two hours, where we deal with some group business as well as try to bring in a presenter or speaker to talk on subject that relates to what we're doing."

Geiger says since they started doing their patrols they've been able to uncover evidence for the RCMP that they may have not been to cover in a busy shift.

"We definitely take note of anything that's out of the normal around town. We do record what we do and the RCMP use that information and review it on a weekly basis and we've heard that sometimes something we've seen and recorded they're able to match it up to something they're looking into and some of the information has been helpful to them."

Follow the link for more on Okotoks Citizens On Patrol.