More than 50 people attended the first City of Vernon Citizens Patrol Group Saturday at the Prestige Hotel.

The conference, held in conjunction with the Vernon-North Okanagan RCMP, drew Citizens Patrol volunteers from Salmon Arm, Logan Lake, Summerland, Kelowna, Kamloops, Lumby and Vernon for a day of guest speakers, training and networking.

“The biggest takeaways from the conference were the networking and information-sharing opportunities with other regional Citizens Patrol groups, which I think was beneficial for all of our attendees, in addition to the skills and knowledge training,” said Regan Borisenko, crime prevention coordinator for the City of Vernon.

“The feedback we received was 100 per cent positive towards the conference presentations as well as the central location.”

Presenters at the conference included the RCMP volunteer management program director, ICBC road safety co-ordinator, RCMP Combined Forces special enforcement unit, the Southeast District telecoms unit and Vernon’s provincial dog services.