The following information is a general overview of our vCOP organization as a whole.
vCOP has a designated leadership with various positions, each one with specific duties. The Coordinator is in top position and is the one person to decide the rules, regulations, and protocols under which we all operate. Next in line are the Supervisors who generally ensure that those guidelines are carried out, and handle the day to day operations. Each one of them is in charge of one or more specific departments.
Next come the team leaders who are each given a reasonable number of volunteers they are responsible for. The Team Leaders objective is to motivate a smaller, more manageable number of people, which would be impossible for any one person alone. Instead of a single individual trying to handle our eventual goal of approximately 100 to 125 active volunteers alone, each Team Leader now is now dealing with only some 15 or so people each, whom they hopefully get to know quite well. In this way a more personal connection is formed.
Whenever an ECO is sent out by Dispatch including, (but not limited to) a missing person, fire, flood, broken water main, evacuation, or other important event, Supervisors are notified by pager immediately. One of them would now take charge at that point and act as the intermediary between vCOP and whoever requires our services. Those services might include Public Security, Police, Fire Department, Public Works, and others. Once the estimated total number of volunteers required is known for that particular ECO, information is immediately fed to the team leaders who, in turn knowing whom they can depend on and call out depending on their availability will call those people first, thereby shortening the response time considerably.
Last but not least are our volunteers, the backbone of vCOP. Without our volunteers vCOP would be useless. They are the patrollers who respond to the cities needs, be it to help out at special events or to safely protect citizens from danger at the scene of an incident. As well they report most anything out of the ordinary while on patrol, hopefully before some small sighting becomes larger and more dangerous. They also provide information to citizens and may point out bylaws to citizens, many of which they may be unfamiliar with. Using the training we provided to everyone, we can actually save a life if need be using CPR and or the AED.
I hope this general synopsis explains not only what each one of us does, but will motivate you to fulfill whatever your position to the best of your ability.
