Vancouver police, with help from teams of volunteers, arrested 10 people during a holiday patrol emphasis aimed at deterring theft and vehicle prowling in commercial parking lots.
The Vancouver Police Department said in a news release Monday that four people were arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, five on suspicion of drug possession or warrants, and one for a federal firearms violation.
Additionally, two vehicles were towed and a stolen vehicle was recovered. Police made 49 total traffic stops.
“Noteworthy incidents included a shoplifter who fled one of the retail locations with a shopping cart full of shoes and was apprehended and arrested by officers two blocks away,” police said.
The holiday safety saturation patrol includes detectives from the Neighborhood Response Team, corrections officers and 20 Neighbors on Watch volunteers.
NOW volunteers don’t carry guns, but they do receive training from police in using radios, observation skills and the legal aspects of what constitutes a crime. They are trained not to confront people, but to radio their base station operator, another volunteer who is in direct contact with 911 dispatchers and police.
During the saturation patrol, the volunteers worked in pairs, driving around designated areas on the east side. One of the teams witnessed a hand-to-hand drug deal and radioed in details about the exchange to officers, according to the department.
The department conducts the collaborative saturation patrols several times a year.
