SAN ANTONIO – Volunteers with Bexar County Citizens on Patrol helped to keep an eye out for crime Saturday evening under the guidance of the Sheriff's Office.
Armed with only their cellphones, the group canvassed Bulverde Village while implementing preventative measures to make the neighborhood safer.
"I was just calling my husband and saying, 'Wow, we are really safe tonight. There's a sheriff's meeting. We are surrounded,'" said Darlene Puckett, whose son lives in the neighborhood.
"(I) just moved here from California. I definitely think it's a good idea to have sheriffs here patrolling the neighborhood," resident Jason Nutt said.
The volunteers "blitzed" the area, as the Sheriff's Office called it, in clearly marked vehicles with the mission to curb crime.
"We've been having issues with egging, criminal mischief, juveniles climbing fences into the pool, auto thefts," Citizens on Patrol leader Danni Breaux said.
Breaux and a handful of others patrol the Bulverde neighborhood on a daily basis. Getting fellow neighbors involved is sometimes their toughest job.
"For some reason, they feel they don't want to bother the sheriff if they see the strange guy walking down the street. They don't report that. We tell people, the sheriff tells us call it in, let the deputy decide," Breaux said.
Members of the patrol are trained for what to do if they spot a crime.
"They live here. They live in the neighborhoods. And so when something isn't right, or somebody's there that doesn't belong there, or just strange goings on, they are the ones who are most familiar with their neighborhoods and so they are our eyes and ears," Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said.
Anyone interested in joining the volunteers can do so online by clicking here.