03/21/2026
I’ve lived here for almost two years now. I was the first homeowner to close in the East Ranches. Coyotes, Bobcats, Wild Boar, Feral Cats, stray dogs would roam the streets at night. There were occasional “break in’s” of the construction sites by mostly homeless individuals.
I moved here from Palm Beach County were we lived for 40 years. We had problems with crime in our area too.
In our neighborhood we started a C.O.P. Program (Citizen Observer Patrol)
This was sponsored by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office. I was a Sergeant with the C.O.P. Program. We first attended a training course put on by the PBSO. We learned about how to patrol our neighborhoods and our group was provided a radio, cell phone and a marked PBSO C.O.P. Vehicle to patrol our neighborhood. This is strictly an “Observe and Report” Volunteer position.
Other counties have similar programs and I believe we have enough interest in our community to start this program here.
I was previously a Captain with G4S, Allied-Universal, and was deployed with FEMA to the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in 2017 in the Aftermath of hurricanes Irma & Marina.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office, please take notice of this post (someone with the C.O.P. Program), you may contact me about this.
Thank you to all of my neighbors for being observant and let’s move forward with this program.
(This photo is only for information purposes only, this is not me)