The purpose of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Volunteer Program, referred to as V.I.P.S., is to utilize volunteers to supplement and support sworn officers and civilian staff. The program will be administered by the Community Policing Unit and supervised by the Community Policing Sergeant. During the inception of the program there will only be one V.I.P.S. unit based out of the Town Center Mall and all scheduling will be coordinated there.

Citizens’ Observation Patrol (C.O.P.) is one function of the V.I.P.S. program. The C.O.P. is a group of volunteers that patrol designated areas. The patrol volunteers observe and report suspicious activity, people or objects. They will also handle vacation or seasonal un-occupied home checks, conduct well-being checks on the elderly or infirm individuals and other related functions as may be delegated by the Sheriff for the community. C.O.P. will not take any law enforcement actions.

V.I.P.S. will be issued shirts that clearly identify them as volunteers and will be worn while performing volunteer functions. C.O.P. will utilize retired patrol vehicles that have been remarked with the word “VOLUNTEER”. V.I.P.S. and C.O.P. will receive specific classroom and on-the-job training to provide them with the information and skills necessary to perform their particular volunteer assignments.

Click here to download an application to volunteer at the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office (PDF). You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file.

You can choose to print out the application and complete it by hand or you can use Acrobat Reader to fill out the application. If you fill out the application using Acrobat Reader, you will need to print your completed application before you close the program. It will not let you save the completed form.