Cambridge Community Patrol coordinator Neil Bridgland has more than one story of when his volunteers took lifesaving action.
Murray Glensor, left, and Neil Bridgland with the Cambridge Community Patrol vehicle.
Like the time, a couple of months ago, when a husband-and-wife on late night patrol saw a young woman in trouble outside of a Cambridge petrol station.
“She was in a pretty serious way,” Bridgland said.
The pair called 111 and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until emergency services arrived.
“If they had not seen her, I am sure she would have died,” Bridgland said.
He has similar stories of how his team stepped in and saved others.
Providing the right support for vulnerable people is all in a night’s work for these volunteers. An equally successful night, Bridgland said, was one where nothing of note had happened.
“At the end of the night, when nothing has happened, you count that as a successful night. You don’t really want things to happen.”
Cambridge Community Patrol is an initiative of Neighbourhood Support Cambridge and affiliated with Community Patrols New Zealand.
Its volunteers have driven a sponsored car around the town for seven years, providing an extra layer of security to the business community and extra eyes and ears for police.
“We are very well supported by our local community,” Bridgland said.
For the last two years the patrol has operated in the small hours for six nights of the week.
Volunteers tend to be over 50 years of age, some are working, some are retired, but all are prepared to stay up so that others can sleep well.
“We would be out sometimes around 3am if something is going down,” he said.
On a typical patrol the volunteers might secure a business which has been unintentionally left unlocked and assist police in observing and reporting suspicious behaviour.
“Cambridge has some antisocial and criminal elements,” Bridgland said.
But it’s much better than most towns.
Other duties include assisting emergency service at road traffic accidents and traffic management.
From left, Neil Bridgland, Senior Constable Deb Hann, Terry and Sue Kennedy, Bruce Beer and Pat Lambert
