Photo by Jasmyne Ray.
Chelsea’s Citizen Observer Patrol has roughly 40 volunteers and will likely recruit a handful more over the course of the year, according to COP Director David Cheek. 2019 marks the patrol’s 20th year of service, which began through a city resolution passed in December 1998.
Drivers in the city of Chelsea have likely seen the familiar white patrol cars with star insignias on their doors. These cars, however, are a little different from those belonging to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
They’re part of Chelsea’s Citizen Observer Patrol (COP). Jay Jerman is a founding member of the COP, having played an instrumental role in Chelsea’s incorporation in 1996.
“The reason that the word ‘observer’ is in there instead of ‘citizens on patrol’ is to make it very crystal clear what their mission is,” Jerman said. “And it’s to observe and to not get involved.”
At the time of Chelsea’s incorporation, it was home to less than a thousand residents. However, Jerman and other city officials anticipated the growth the city has seen and began looking for ways to ensure their residents’ safety.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Department had agreed to provide law enforcement services, but Jerman would soon find a solution to supplement their efforts.
While visiting his mother in Del Rey Beach, Florida, he learned about the COP program the community had in place there and, after researching similar organizations, decided that Chelsea could benefit from having a COP program of its own in place.
With the Del Rey Beach COPs serving as their mentors and occasionally sending representatives to help get the organization off the ground, the Chelsea COPs were established through a resolution passed in December 1998.
The organization has since grown to have an impressive presence in Chelsea thanks to its high visibility. According to current Chelsea COP Director David Cheek, they have roughly 40 volunteers altogether, and over the course of a given year, they’re able to recruit three or four more.
Each volunteer has to spend a minimum of 12-and-a-half hours on duty in some capacity per month.
Cheek moved to Chelsea in 2015, and it was by the influence of a former neighbor who was already a volunteer that he signed up to join the COPs.
“His character spoke to me about the professionalism, the servant’s heart of the organization, and as soon as I got here I signed up and wanted to join,” Cheek said.
Though Jerman’s main career background was in business, he was familiar with security and law enforcement from having worked in security in college and having been an Air Force air police officer.
“I’d had my hand in it,” he said. “So this was just a natural thing that appealed to me.”
While the organization focuses mostly on security patrols around the city, members also assist in traffic control, most notably for Chelsea High School’s home football games, the city’s Christmas parade and the Big Kaboom Fourth of July fireworks show.
They also place patrol cars around the city as a speeding deterrent, though they don’t have law enforcement capabilities.
“When you go out on patrol, it’s amazing the number of people that see the car and they wave and smile,” Jerman said. “It’s kind of a vote of approval.”
