Rolling through Chase Park and the two other parks in the Town Plot neighborhood of Waterbury, in a car marked "Town Plot Citizens' Patrol," Bob Marti looks for anything suspicious. But he's not a cop.
"We have no powers whatsoever," Marti explained. "We're just plain old citizens that wanted to do this. I'm a former officer, but that doesn't make me still an officer."
It does give him experience in observation and discretion. Marti said there have been no major incidents in the city when the Waterbury Citizens' Patrol has had to call police for help.
And although they have no law enforcement authority, patrol members say the extra set of eyes on the city is meant to help deter crime.
"We patrol every street in Town Plot," he said. "Cul-de-sacs, condominiums, it doesn't matter. We patrol everything. If we see something that we feel is a little out of line, a car – a strange car, something like that – in wee hours of the morning we feel doesn't belong there, we take the plate number."
A video camera mounted on his windshield records any issues he and fellow members of the Town Plot Citizens' Patrol might encounter. The patrol vehicle has yellow lights and a CB radio for communications.
Working three or four nights per week, at five to six hours per shift, the patrol, which got its start last summer, is welcoming new members.
"We're not wide-eyed, running up and down the street like crazy bandits," Marti said. "We patrol slowly. We look and observe everything."
The citizens' patrol is linked the three Neighborhood Watch units in Town Plot and has offered to help people across town set up similar citizens' patrols.
The patrol holds fundraisers to stay afloat, and Marti said a resident whom the patrol helped has been generous with gas cards.
