Victoria Gonzalez | Vaquero Radio
On May 17, the Edinburg Police Department will launch its Dog Walker Program, which will allow dog owners to report suspicious activity while they are walking their dogs in public.
Dog Walker Watch was developed by the National Town Watch Association. This new program would be the third watch group established in the city of Edinburg.
Edinburg Police Department Lieutenant Gabriel Vela-Reyna said the program consists of people getting together to go and help the police whether it’s in the individual’s neighborhood, business or park.
Vela-Reyna said he hopes to inspire change with the program in the city with community engagement.
“So, when you have that trust, it’s going to change your community,” he said. “Because the better the relationship is between the community and the police department, the safer our community will be.”
Vela-Reyna said another reason why this program is significant is because the police department wants to focus on training the public to properly identify suspects and vehicles and be able to relay that information back to officers when they respond at the scene.
In honor of this new program, the department will host an event from 6 to 8 p.m. May 17 at Sgt. Jacob de La Garza North Park in Edinburg.
This event will feature various vendors, community stakeholders, and the Edinburg Police Department. Vela-Reyna said that hosting this event will give the department the opportunity to get together and talk about crime prevention.
He highlighted that programs like this acknowledge trust between law enforcement and citizens.
“Once you have trust in your police department, you’re going to be able to place that call for service,” he said. “Whether it’s for a suspicious person or an incident that occurred.”
This is Victoria Gonzalez for Vaquero Radio.
