Untitled Document

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Who started the Leesburg Police Citizens Support Team and why? A: Our organization was founded in 1996 by a forward-looking Chief of Police who recognized the need to engage the citizens of the community in a closer relationship with the Police Department. Our goal was to maintain the quality of life we had in our community in view of the changes occurring so quickly around us due to our County’s rapid population growth. Q: How many people were initially involved and what did the organization look like then? A: Initially a 12-week Community-Oriented Police Studies (COPS) course was presented by the Leesburg Police Department for Leesburg residents who wanted to know more about their police department, its officers, and their functions. At the conclusion of this COPS course, a Citizens Support Team was organized by 14 of the citizen graduates. Our Team’s initial mission was to assist the department with administrative tasks, as well as to field Citizens on Patrol using cell phones to alert the Police Department to observed or suspicious events. Q: What were your initial goals? Crime reduction only? Assist law enforcement with traffic? A: During the first year, we focused on neighborhood patrol as the primary function of our organization. We also undertook a child fingerprinting program which we offered free to parents at business open houses, school functions and anywhere else we were invited to appear. We developed a booklet for the parents incorporating both the fingerprints, tips on child safety, and a medical release form that could be used in the event of a medical emergency that might occur while the children were in the care of someone other than the parents. Q: What types of challenges did you face initially and what are they now if any? A: Our early challenges were focused on the development of our organization and program. Within the first year we became incorporated within the State of Virginia and registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501C(3) non-profit organization. Along with this we adopted our Corporate Bylaws which define our Team structure and further refine our relationship with the Police Department. The next challenge was creation of our Standard Operating Procedures, defining everything from a code of conduct to the use of our equipment in the many applications we were developing and functions we were taking on for the Department. Our current challenge is finding a sufficient number of new volunteer members to handle the ever-increasing trust and new functions the Police Department and the Town of Leesburg place upon us. The more we show we are able to handle as an organization, the more activities are given to us. Q: If you have patrol cars, what was your first patrol car, (make, model, condition, etc.)? A: As our organization established itself with the Police Department and the Town of Leesburg government, two about-to-be retired Chevrolet Caprice police cruisers were donated to the Team. These were reconfigured as Community Patrol vehicles with yellow bar lights in place of the blue ones sported by the Leesburg Police cars. Our police department’s vehicles are white with blue markings. We painted our vehicles gold with white markings to identify them as Community Patrol vehicles and differentiate them from police cars. Q: What does your Support Team patrol car fleet look like now? How many cars? What type, etc.? A: We’re currently using the two marked cruiser vehicles and one unmarked vehicle on neighborhood patrol. Often our members use their own personal vehicles when on patrol in a less visible mode. Q: What type of uniforms do you have? Polo shirts? Police uniforms? A combination? A: Our uniforms consist of black trousers with a white shirt which has black pocket flaps and epaulets. Our shoulder patches were custom made from our team emblem. Our headgear is a baseball style cap with “Support Team” embroidered on the front. We also issue a military black cloth belt with a black military style buckle and issue winter coats with our patch on both shoulders and light-weight windbreaker jackets with “Support Team” visible on it. We also equip our members with an assortment of equipment for use in traffic direction. Q: How many Citizen Support Team volunteers do you actively have now? A: At this time our membership stands at 14 members with several applications pending. Q: What type of equipment do your members carry? Flashlights? Cuffs? Pepper Spray? Weapons? A: Our members are specifically prohibited from carrying weapons while on duty. A list of our equipment would contain road flares, a traffic vest, a whistle for traffic control, a flashlight with traffic wand, a traffic vest and a complete uniform including rain gear. Those members spending most of their time in Leesburg as opposed to work sites away from town are issued pagers so they can be contacted by the Police Department or monitor incidents to which our local Fire and Rescue Services respond. All members are also issued an 800MHz police portable radio. These radios are used on the current police network and enable us to communicate directly on a number of active police channels with the patrol units as well as with police dispatchers. Q: Where is your Citizen Patrol office located? A: Our Citizens Support Team has an office assigned for our use located within our Police Headquarters. All of our members have electronic pass keys granting them access to Headquarters as well as our office. Q: How do you communicate between cars, volunteers, and with the police? Cell phones? Radios? A: Day-to-day routine Team communications and emergency call-outs of Team members are conducted using cell phones, which most members have. Active neighborhood patrol or community event communications requiring coordination by Police Dispatch are conducted using the 800MHz radios. Q: How do you dispatch Citizen Support Team volunteers to accident scenes or calls for police assistance? A: Our team call-out procedures are initiated by a Police Dispatcher notifying one of our Team officers. The individual receiving the request then begins a call-down of the Team roster to generate enough members to meet the requirement of the Police Department. Q: What type of initial training do Citizen Support Team volunteers get and is there any ongoing training? A: New Team members are trained by veteran members in patrol-related areas such as communications and neighborhood patrol. Traffic direction training is performed by the Police Department to State-certify our members for duty on the streets and highways of Leesburg. Additional training, such as hazardous materials recognition and reporting, Team vehicle maintenance procedures, and first aid and CPR, occurs at monthly Team meetings and on special training days. Ongoing training is offered to all members either as a follow-up to our scheduled meetings or as a stand-alone training session on a weekend. Q: Do you offer any special services to the public or law enforcement such as fingerprinting, vacation checks, traffic control, crime scene control, stolen car checks, etc? A: Our service to the community is basically divided into two categories. The first is direct support to the community in the form of neighborhood patrols offering assistance to motorists, pedestrians and homeowners. One of our most popular programs began as child identification in the form of fingerprinting for the parents. This has evolved into providing DNA identification in place of the fingerprints. We’ve had much greater success with the DNA collection considering we’ve been able to collect samples from sleeping infants without waking them up. The additional benefit of one DNA sample lasting 80+ years as opposed to fingerprints which we recommended redoing as the child grew also appealed to the parents. We also have had personnel on patrol at our local high school sporting events in the past. The second category of support is to the Police Department and takes on a more complex number of chores. We’re routinely called out for searches for lost individuals and assistance with traffic control at accident scenes, to assist with traffic at fire scenes and assist the Police when events become extended in duration. These extended situations have included site security at plane crashes, standing by an open business while the owner responds to secure the business, directing traffic during fatal accident reconstruction operations, and observing a suspect vehicle or residence waiting for a suspect to show up. We also perform traffic control during storm power outages when the street lights go out and have patrolled darkened shopping centers, schools, and public buildings overnight during a recent hurricane. Other scheduled events include crowd control at Town events drawing thousands of participants and crowd control at parades and other civic events throughout the year. We also assist the Police Department with administrative matters when requested. Q: What are the qualifications to become a Citizen Support Team member and what type of background check do applicants go through? A: Our members are recruited from the community at large. Our requirements are that they be over 21 years of age, have no criminal record, hold a valid driver’s license, and have a good driving record. All applicants must submit a driving record report, provide information for a background check, and be fingerprinted for a criminal check. Q: What were your most current year’s service statistics? A: In calendar year 2005, our volunteers gave nearly 9,000 hours of service to the Town of Leesburg. Q: What types of activities were included in those 9,000 hours of service? A: Our members performed many hours of neighborhood patrol, both during the day and at night, oversaw community sports and celebration events, responded to weather, fire, and traffic accident related emergencies, participated in other unscheduled events such as plane crashes, searches for missing persons, reported DUI drivers and theft suspects that resulted in arrests. Q: How has the Citizens Support Team been accepted by the Police Department and the Town government? A: Our acceptance within the Police Department is reflected in the attitude expressed toward us by our Departmental Command Staff. We enjoy an excellent relationship with the Department. The trust and confidence in our abilities also are evidenced by the officers on the street in their willingness to ask for our assistance in the performance of their duties. The community has also expressed appreciation for our efforts to our personnel either directly or through recognition awards presented by our Town and County Governments, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the National Points of Lights Foundation, and the Department of Justice Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) web site. Q: What is your annual operating budget in dollars? A: We have an annual budget of approximately $5,000 which is provided within the Town of Leesburg’s budget. The Police Department also supports us with surplus vehicles, uniform items, and equipment and vehicle maintenance. In addition, we receive donations, usually in the form of cash, from generous and supportive individuals and the community at large to supplement our budget. Q: What special events and activities do you provide support for? A: Our support for events throughout the community include uniformed presence at various events at our local schools and traffic and crowd control for many benefit races and marathons, Civil War reenactments and concerts, 4th of July parades and fireworks celebrations, high school homecoming, Halloween, and Christmas parades. We maintain an information booth with our host department at public safety fairs and other homeowners association and community affairs events. We also maintain a uniformed presence at our local concert series held in the town square every weekend throughout the summer. We assist with Leesburg Police DUI checkpoints and in conducting parking and traffic flow surveys for the Department. We conducted a seat belt survey both before and after an enforcement period to gauge the effectiveness of the effort. Another survey was conducted on designated intersections to determine problem intersections due to individuals running red lights. We also conduct radar speed surveys on designated streets. We patrol, on request, at events such as the Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival, August Court Days Fair, and other occasions involving street closures in the downtown Leesburg area. We maintain a booth upon request by civic organizations, businesses, schools both public and private, and anyone else to conduct DNA identification for all attendees. Q: Has any Support Team member ever been injured while performing their duties? A: Due to our policy of nonengagement in police law enforcement matters and our emphasis on safe driving procedures, we have never incurred an injury in the line of duty. Our mandate is to observe and report. In that capacity, we’ve been asked to maintain stakeouts but, when the subject is sighted, the police officers take over and we withdraw. In the event of a crime drawing officers from other Town sectors, we fall back to maintain a continuing public safety presence in those areas vacated by the officers. Q: How do you motivate, recognize and reward your Support Team volunteers? A: Motivation is a difficult issue within any volunteer group. One method that works for us is to keep members engaged in productive efforts such as surveys, events and patrol. It’s also important to get to know the patrol officers to increase their comfort level in the services available to them from our members. Awards and recognition come from various sources. We’ve been recognized as the Volunteer Team of the Year by our local County government. We’ve had one of our members recognized as Senior Volunteer of the Year. We’ve received numerous awards from our local Town Government for outstanding service to the community. We’ve also received awards and messages of thanks from our Police Department. In the past, the Leesburg Police Department has issued several of our members Commander Awards, previously granted only to officers within the Department, for their efforts in locating an elderly patient who had wandered away from a local nursing home in a life-threatening situation. Our organization has also been recognized by the National Points of Light Foundation and is recognized on their web site. Additionally, we’ve been recognized by the Federal Volunteers In Police Service (VIPS) program. Q: Would you say your Team been successful in its crime prevention and public safety role? A: Our Team has been effective in many areas including reporting drunk drivers, spotting fleeing felons resulting in their capture, and finding injured and missing persons, but the most noteworthy service we provided over the past several years was assisting the Police Department in maintaining a uniformed presence at our schools during the Washington, DC sniper incident in October of 2002. After the snipers made good on their threat against school children by shooting a student, our department asked the Support Team for volunteers to serve visibly in front of each of our local schools. For the duration of the event until the snipers were captured, our Team members joined the Town police, morning and afternoon, at our assigned schools during drop off and pick up times. During these assignments, we reported suspicious vehicles parking within sight of our posts while police and other Support Team patrol units cruised the neighborhoods and helicopters circled overhead. This event was the only time since the formation of our Leesburg Police Citizens Support Team that we intentionally put our people at risk. It was with a great sense of relief that we received word that the snipers had been apprehended some 30 miles north of our community.

Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)

Q: Who started the Leesburg Police Citizens Support Team and why?
A: Our organization was founded in 1996 by a forward-looking Chief of Police who recognized the need to engage the citizens of the community in a closer relationship with the Police Department. Our goal was to maintain the quality of life we had in our community in view of the changes occurring so quickly around us due to our County’s rapid population growth.

Q: How many people were initially involved and what did the organization look like then?
A: Initially a 12-week Community-Oriented Police Studies (COPS) course was presented by the Leesburg Police Department for Leesburg residents who wanted to know more about their police department, its officers, and their functions. At the conclusion of this COPS course, a Citizens Support Team was organized by 14 of the citizen graduates. Our Team’s initial mission was to assist the department with administrative tasks, as well as to field Citizens on Patrol using cell phones to alert the Police Department to observed or suspicious events.

Q: What were your initial goals? Crime reduction only? Assist law enforcement with traffic?
A: During the first year, we focused on neighborhood patrol as the primary function of our organization. We also undertook a child fingerprinting program which we offered free to parents at business open houses, school functions and anywhere else we were invited to appear. We developed a booklet for the parents incorporating both the fingerprints, tips on child safety, and a medical release form that could be used in the event of a medical emergency that might occur while the children were in the care of someone other than the parents.

Q: What types of challenges did you face initially and what are they now if any?
A: Our early challenges were focused on the development of our organization and program. Within the first year we became incorporated within the State of Virginia and registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501C(3) non-profit organization. Along with this we adopted our Corporate Bylaws which define our Team structure and further refine our relationship with the Police Department. The next challenge was creation of our Standard Operating Procedures, defining everything from a code of conduct to the use of our equipment in the many applications we were developing and functions we were taking on for the Department. Our current challenge is finding a sufficient number of new volunteer members to handle the ever-increasing trust and new functions the Police Department and the Town of Leesburg place upon us. The more we show we are able to handle as an organization, the more activities are given to us.

Q: If you have patrol cars, what was your first patrol car, (make, model, condition, etc.)?
A: As our organization established itself with the Police Department and the Town of Leesburg government, two about-to-be retired Chevrolet Caprice police cruisers were donated to the Team. These were
reconfigured as Community Patrol vehicles with yellow bar lights in place of the blue ones sported by the Leesburg Police cars. Our police department’s vehicles are white with blue markings. We painted our vehicles gold with white markings to identify them as Community Patrol vehicles and differentiate them from police cars.

Q: What does your Support Team patrol car fleet look like now? How many cars? What type, etc.?
A: We’re currently using the two marked cruiser vehicles and one unmarked vehicle on neighborhood patrol. Often our members use their own personal vehicles when on patrol in a less visible mode.

Q: What type of uniforms do you have? Polo shirts? Police uniforms? A combination?
A: Our uniforms consist of black trousers with a white shirt which has black pocket flaps and epaulets. Our shoulder patches were custom
made from our team emblem. Our headgear is a baseball style cap with “Support Team” embroidered on the front. We also issue a military black cloth belt with a black military style buckle and issue winter coats with our patch on both shoulders and light-weight windbreaker jackets with “Support Team” visible on it. We also equip our members with an assortment of equipment for use in traffic direction.

Q: How many Citizen Support Team volunteers do you actively have now?
A: At this time our membership stands at 14 members with several applications pending.

Q: What type of equipment do your members carry? Flashlights? Cuffs? Pepper Spray? Weapons?
A: Our members are specifically prohibited from carrying weapons while on duty. A list of our equipment would contain road flares, a traffic vest, a whistle for traffic control, a flashlight with traffic wand, a traffic vest and a complete uniform including rain gear. Those members spending most of their time in Leesburg as opposed to work sites away from town are issued pagers so they can be contacted by the Police Department or monitor incidents to which our local Fire and Rescue Services respond. All members are also issued an 800MHz police portable radio. These radios are used on the current police network and enable us to communicate directly on a number of active police channels with the patrol units as well as with police dispatchers.

Q: Where is your Citizen Patrol office located?
A: Our Citizens Support Team has an office assigned for our use located within our Police Headquarters. All of our members have electronic pass keys granting them access to Headquarters as well as our office.

Q: How do you communicate between cars, volunteers, and with the police? Cell phones? Radios?
A: Day-to-day routine Team communications and emergency call-outs of Team members are conducted using cell phones, which most members have. Active neighborhood patrol or community event communications requiring coordination by Police Dispatch are conducted using the 800MHz radios.

Q: How do you dispatch Citizen Support Team volunteers to accident scenes or calls for police assistance?
A: Our team call-out procedures are initiated by a Police Dispatcher notifying one of our Team officers. The individual receiving the request then begins a call-down of the Team roster to generate enough members
to meet the requirement of the Police Department.

Q: What type of initial training do Citizen Support Team volunteers get and is there any ongoing training?
A: New Team members are trained by veteran members in patrol-related areas such as communications and neighborhood patrol. Traffic direction training is performed by the Police Department to State-certify our members for duty on the streets and highways of Leesburg. Additional training, such as hazardous materials recognition and reporting, Team vehicle maintenance procedures, and first aid and CPR, occurs at monthly Team meetings and on special training days. Ongoing training is offered to all members either as a follow-up to our scheduled meetings or as a stand-alone training session on a weekend.

Q: Do you offer any special services to the public or law enforcement such as fingerprinting, vacation checks, traffic control, crime scene control, stolen car checks, etc?
A: Our service to the community is basically divided into two categories. The first is direct support to the community in the form of neighborhood patrols offering assistance to motorists, pedestrians and homeowners. One of our most popular programs began as child identification in the form of fingerprinting for the parents. This has evolved into providing DNA identification in place of the fingerprints. We’ve had much greater success with the DNA collection considering we’ve been able to collect samples from sleeping infants without waking them up. The additional benefit of one DNA sample lasting 80+ years as opposed to fingerprints which we recommended redoing as the child grew also appealed to the parents. We also have had personnel on patrol at our local high school sporting events in the past. The second category of support is to the Police Department and takes on a more complex number of chores. We’re routinely called out for searches for lost individuals and assistance with traffic control at accident scenes, to assist with traffic at fire scenes and assist the Police when events become extended in duration. These extended situations have included site security at plane crashes, standing by an open business while the owner responds to secure the business, directing traffic during fatal accident reconstruction operations, and observing a suspect vehicle or residence waiting for a suspect to show up. We also perform traffic control during storm power outages when the street lights go out and have patrolled darkened shopping centers, schools, and public buildings overnight during a recent hurricane. Other scheduled events include crowd control at Town events drawing
thousands of participants and crowd control at parades and other civic events throughout the year. We also assist the Police Department with
administrative matters when requested.

Q: What are the qualifications to become a Citizen Support Team member and what type of background check do applicants go through?
A: Our members are recruited from the community at large. Our requirements are that they be over 21 years of age, have no criminal record, hold a valid driver’s license, and have a good driving record. All
applicants must submit a driving record report, provide information for a background check, and be fingerprinted for a criminal check.

Q: What were your most current year’s service statistics?
A: In calendar year 2005, our volunteers gave nearly 9,000 hours of service to the Town of Leesburg.

Q: What types of activities were included in those 9,000 hours of service?
A: Our members performed many hours of neighborhood patrol, both during the day and at night, oversaw community sports and celebration events, responded to weather, fire, and traffic accident related emergencies, participated in other unscheduled events such as plane crashes, searches for missing persons, reported DUI drivers and theft suspects that resulted in arrests.

Q: How has the Citizens Support Team been accepted by the Police Department and the Town government?
A: Our acceptance within the Police Department is reflected in the attitude expressed toward us by our Departmental Command Staff. We enjoy an excellent relationship with the Department. The trust and confidence in our abilities also are evidenced by the officers on the street in their willingness to ask for our assistance in the performance of their duties. The community has also expressed appreciation for our efforts to our personnel either directly or through recognition awards presented by our Town and County Governments, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the National Points of Lights Foundation, and the Department of Justice Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) web site.

Q: What is your annual operating budget in dollars?
A: We have an annual budget of approximately $5,000 which is provided within the Town of Leesburg’s budget. The Police Department also supports us with surplus vehicles, uniform items, and equipment and vehicle maintenance. In addition, we receive donations, usually in the form of cash, from generous and supportive individuals and the community at large to supplement our budget.

Q: What special events and activities do you provide support for?
A: Our support for events throughout the community include uniformed presence at various events at our local schools and traffic and crowd control for many benefit races and marathons, Civil War reenactments and concerts, 4th of July parades and fireworks celebrations, high school homecoming, Halloween, and Christmas parades. We maintain an
information booth with our host department at public safety fairs and other homeowners association and community affairs events. We
also maintain a uniformed presence at our local concert series held in the town square every weekend throughout the summer. We assist
with Leesburg Police DUI checkpoints and in conducting parking and traffic flow surveys for the Department. We conducted a seat belt survey both before and after an enforcement period to gauge the effectiveness
of the effort. Another survey was conducted on designated intersections to determine problem intersections due to individuals running red lights. We also conduct radar speed surveys on designated streets. We patrol, on request, at events such as the Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival, August Court Days Fair, and other occasions involving street closures in the downtown Leesburg area. We maintain a booth upon request by civic organizations, businesses, schools both public and private, and anyone
else to conduct DNA identification for all attendees.

Q: Has any Support Team member ever been injured while performing their duties?
A: Due to our policy of nonengagement in police law enforcement matters and our emphasis on safe driving procedures, we have never incurred an injury in the line of duty. Our mandate is to observe and report. In that capacity, we’ve been asked to maintain stakeouts but, when the subject is sighted, the police officers take over and we withdraw. In the event of a crime drawing officers from other Town sectors, we fall back to maintain a continuing public safety presence in those areas vacated by the officers.

Q: How do you motivate, recognize and reward your Support Team volunteers?
A: Motivation is a difficult issue within any volunteer group. One method that works for us is to keep members engaged in productive efforts such as surveys, events and patrol. It’s also important to get to know the patrol officers to increase their comfort level in the services available to them from our members. Awards and recognition come from various sources.
We’ve been recognized as the Volunteer Team of the Year by our local County government. We’ve had one of our members recognized as
Senior Volunteer of the Year. We’ve received numerous awards from our local Town Government for outstanding service to the community. We’ve also received awards and messages of thanks from our Police Department. In the past, the Leesburg Police Department has issued several of our members Commander Awards, previously granted only to officers within the Department, for their efforts in locating an elderly patient who had wandered away from a local nursing home in a life-threatening situation. Our organization has also been recognized by the National Points of Light Foundation and is recognized on their web site. Additionally, we’ve been recognized by the Federal Volunteers In Police Service (VIPS) program.

Q: Would you say your Team been successful in its crime prevention and public safety role?
A: Our Team has been effective in many areas including reporting drunk drivers, spotting fleeing felons resulting in their capture, and finding injured and missing persons, but the most noteworthy service we provided over the past several years was assisting the Police Department in maintaining a uniformed presence at our schools during the Washington, DC sniper incident in October of 2002. After the snipers made good on their threat against school children by shooting a student, our department asked the Support Team for volunteers to serve visibly in front of each of our local schools. For the duration of the event until the snipers were captured, our Team members joined the Town police, morning and afternoon, at our assigned schools during drop off and pick up times. During these assignments, we reported suspicious vehicles parking within sight of our posts while police and other Support Team patrol units cruised the neighborhoods and helicopters circled overhead. This event was the only time since the formation of our Leesburg Police Citizens Support Team that we intentionally put our people at risk. It was with a great sense of relief that we received word that the snipers had been apprehended some 30 miles north of our community.