F.B.I. COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AWARD 2024

San Francisco LGBTQ+ Community Safety Program (CSP) leaders, Chief Ken Craig [pictured left above] of Community Patrol Service (CPS) and Chief Greg Carey [pictured right above] of Castro Community On Patrol (CCOP) have been selected to receive the prestigious Federal Bureau of Investigation Directors Community Leadership award in a special presentation that will take place at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. on Friday April 19, 2024.

The Community Leadership awards are presented annually, and this year represents the 16th iteration of the awards. Each FBI area of responsibility nominates worthy candidates who have worked collaboratively with the local FBI office in furthering the overall mission and goals of the FBI.  FBI Director Wray will present the award to Chief Craig and Chief Carey during the gala event in Washington D.C. recognizing them for their tireless work within the San Francisco LGBTQ+ community in providing active shooter training, information, support, and resources to the Castro and surrounding neighborhoods.

In advance of the 04/19 formal presentation, Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, DA Brooke Jenkins, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, Chief Bill Scott, and FBI Special Agent In Charge Robert Tripp recognized Chief Craig and Chief Carey in a local ceremony at San Francisco City Hall on Monday March 18, 2024, presenting two certificates. You can read about the ceremony in The Bay Area Reporter written by Assistant Editor John Ferrannini, or watch the ABC7 San Francisco news story online.

HELP US GET BACK ON OUR FEET

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We are asking for YOUR help as we rebuild following the sudden collapse of our fiscal sponsor in January of this year. You can help us in one of three ways – or in all three ways 🙂
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  1. VOLUNTEER to patrol with us if you can give 3-hours a month to the community?
  2. DONATE any amount through our GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN to help us secure our first fiscal year as a new nonprofit (our Federal 501c3 is pending but we are a CA nonprofit). Your donation will help us keep our safety commitment to the community.
  3. SHARE this post with EVERYONE, but especially anyone you think may be interested in Patrolling with us or donating to us.

GIVE US JUST 3 HOURS A MONTH

   
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Castro Community On Patrol (CCOP) is a California nonprofit volunteer safety patrol and education corporation that enhances the safety and security of the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco for residents, businesses, employees, and visitors.

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CCOP has patrolled the Castro neighborhood since 2006, deploying teams of three unpaid volunteer Patrollers for a 3-hour shift which they select themselves. This confirms CCOP as the longest serving volunteer safety patrol in San Francisco history.
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As a visible safety presence in the neighborhood, our patrols offer assistance, information, guidance, and support to the residents, businesses, employees, and visitors to the Castro, interacting with thousands of people every year. We are “First Reporters” by calling in Medical, Fire, or Law Enforcement professionals when needed, and we will offer assistance when safe to do so until the professionals arrive.
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CCOP assists other community groups and nonprofits to make their events successful by offering training, volunteer support, and frequently providing safety monitoring for planned and impromptu rallies, marches, gatherings, special events, and annual events.
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We also conduct extensive outreach and community training in a variety of important topics which help to raise the awareness and responsiveness of individuals and the broader community in general. We collaborate and work closely with Federal, State, and local authorities to offer additional support and resources such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative, and of course the City and County of San Francisco among many others.
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Collaboration and cooperation is an important part of our work in enhancing the overall “fabric of safety” so we actively participate in, and support, many other safety program and objectives, committing time, energy, and resources to help them succeed. Their success helps the community overall, which in turn helps our success. A few of these collaborations include:
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  • San Francisco District Attorney’s LGBTQ+ Forum
  • San Francisco Police Department LGBTQ+ Advisory Forum
  • Castro Community Benefits District Board of Directors
  • Castro CBD – Castro Cares program
  • San Francisco LGBTQ+ Community Safety Program

JOIN US / TRAIN WITH US

BECOME A PATROL VOLUNTEER

Anyone of 18 years of age or older is welcome.

Basic training for all CCOP Patrol volunteers involves reading a Basic Training manual which is sent electronically, attending a 2-hour instruction course held via ZOOM and scheduled at a mutually suitable date and time, then completing four (4) supervised patrols within six (6) months of completing the ZOOM Basic Training class.

JUMP TO OUR VOLUNTEER PAGE TO REGISTER AS A NEW TRAINEE PATROLLER


COMMUNITY TRAINING CLASSES

BEGINNERS SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING CLASS
Open to anyone of 18 years or older, normally held once per quarter.  Click the link for more details about the class. Our next class will be held:

  • NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME

ACTIVE SHOOTER BASIC TRAINING CLASS
Open to anyone of 18 years or older.  Click the link for more details about the class. Our next class will be held:

  • NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME

SPECIAL CORPORATE AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION TRAINING

We offer specialized advance training to corporations and community organizations.  This training includes 6-class Self-Defense Training,  Active Shooter & Terrorist Incident Training,  Event Protection Training.  Contact us at INFO@CastroPatrol.org to discuss your specific needs.

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Private Basic Self-Defense Training Class For nonprofit and for profit entities and groups at your own facility. $60/person for nonprofit groups and $100/person for for profit groups with a minimum of 10 attendees guaranteed to secure the training date.

  • NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME

Active Shooter – Terrorist Incident – Event Protection Intermediate Training Class For Bars, Clubs, Businesses, Organizations, and Event organizers.

  • NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME

FIRST AID / CPR / AED CERTIFICATION CLASS WITH BAY AREA RED CROSS
Open to anyone of 18 years or older, normally held once per quarter.  We will update this space when we secure a date, time, and location for the class.

  • NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME

Stop The Bleed Training class
Open to anyone of 18 years or older which is led by an accredited vendor and provides guidance on responding to traumatic and severe injuries.  We will update this space when we secure a date, time, and location for the class.

  • NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME

KEEPING THE COMMUNITY
SAFE SINCE 2006

We deliver several KEY programs to help improve and enhance the “fabric of safety” for the neighborhood including:

  • COPSCommunity On Patrol Service program which trains, certifies, and deploys volunteers on regular neighborhood patrols, much like a normal neighborhood watch but with “boots on the ground” walking and interacting with residents, employees, and visitors.
  • CRESt – Community Response, Engagement, and Support  program which brings emergent community volunteers together with our trained Patrollers to assist other community groups and organizations with their special events, rally’s, marches and so on. Through this program our Patrollers also engage directly in the management of other community benefit efforts such as the Castro Cares program, Castro Merchants, Stop The Violence program, etc.
  • CET – Community Education  and Training program which develops training classes and outreach materials on a number of safety topics which are open to all.  This program includes our Community Self-Defense classes and our Active Shooter classes which are extremely popular.
  • CAR – Community Alert and Response program which encourages, develops, and supports the creation of Neighborhood Watch and Business Watch programs, including training and guidance on how to identify suspicious activity and effectively report it to other neighbors and businesses as well as law enforcement.

We also work diligently to share relevant information and concerns, ensuring the appropriate people, groups, and entities are involved in finding suitable long-term solutions.

MORE ABOUT COMMUNITY SAFETY

WE NEED YOU!

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Castro Patrol is built on, supported by, and relies on UNPAID VOLUNTEER support. It all started in 2006 in response to a crisis with reports of violent robberies and associated sexual assaults in the neighborhood. The community rallied, decided “This should not be happening in our neighborhood,” and the Patrol was created. The original threat quickly disappeared, but the need for safety and prevention training continues to this day.

In 2007 we were able to field three separate teams, each having three Patrollers every Friday and Saturday evening. During those first months our Patroller numbers swelled to over 150.  As the immediate threat and news coverage receded,  our volunteer number shrank from a high of just over three-hundred to a more steady thirty to forty Patrollers. This generally  allowed us to field one Patrol with three volunteers each weekend for the most part, and to support many community events, rallies, and marches from the Castro to City Hall.

The COVID-19 Worldwide pandemic unfortunately decimated our volunteer Patroller numbers for many different reasons. We are currently down to about ten Patrollers which severely restricts how many patrols we can deploy, and our capacity to support community events and additional safety training classes.  We do our best, with the limited resources we currently have available – but we could do SO MUCH MORE if we rebuild our volunteer Patroller numbers to the previous thirty or more.

PLEASE CONSIDER VOLUNTEERING with us, to help the community and improve the overall safety of the neighborhood. We provide full training and equipment, and all we ask of you is just one, three-hour patrol per month.  Patrolling with us is fun (at least we think so), rewarding, interesting, and invaluable to the neighborhood as a whole.   TRY US OUT – you never know – you may just love Patrolling as much as we do.

“Harvey Milk” SAFETY WHISTLE PROGRAM

MAKE A DIFFERENCE TODAY

As long as injustice & inequality persist, none of us can truly rest. It doesn’t take much to change a life, Get in touch today and start making the difference.

VOLUNTEER
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