Members of the Sarnia Police Service's new auxiliary unit will soon be out in the community.
The board approved the appointment of six officers during Thursday's meeting.
Training has been completed by the unit which was scheduled to start in February.
According to Deputy Police Chief Julie Craddock, the process of getting an auxiliary unit started in late 2022.
It was expected to hit the streets last fall but it was delayed.
The officers are required to do eight to 12 hours of service a month.
She added some of these officers are in school for police foundations.
Craddock said having these officers enhances police visibility in the community.
"It's something that we've wanted as an organization. Sarnia has never had it. Many organizations utilize auxiliaries to do really important work, so it was a key priority for us," said Craddock.
She explained seeing the unit come into fruition has been exciting.
Craddock said the officers have not been deployed yet.
"They get sworn in on May 2 and then they'll do their oaths of secrecy, their oaths of office and then once they're sworn in we'll be able to fully deploy them," she said.
According to Craddock, the responsibility of the auxiliary officers will be planning crime prevention initiatives and community events.
"Auxiliary members themselves can request to do things like ride-along with our frontline staff that will coordinate at the platoon level," she said.
Craddock added that the Sarnia Police Service will not be doing any more recruiting for the auxiliary unit in 2024.
She said this way the service can look at the way it runs the program.
"We want to make sure that the way we bring (auxiliaries) in, the way that we socialize and introduce them to the organization is done intentionally, that they have a positive experience, we work out any kinks that we may come across in term of policy and process," Craddock said.
The hope is to recruit additional auxiliaries in 2025.