They are there day and night. They’re in your alley or cruising in front of your house. They notice all the places where your security is less than tight. They know your vulnerabilities.

But don’t panic. They’re not professional thieves; they’re V.I.P.s

Sign up for our newsletter!

* indicates required

The V.I.P.s, or Volunteers in Patrol, are 25 men and women in the Lake Highlands Village West neighborhood who have completed a police-sponsored training course to provide non-confrontational patrol of neighborhood alleys and streets.

Teams of two neighbors cruise in two-hour shifts, using their own vehicles with magnetic glow-in-the-dark V.I.P. signs attached for identification.

J.C. Reneau, former chairman of the group, explains how the patrol works: “We wear white shirts and caps with the V.I.P. insignia so people will recognize us if we have to come to their front door. We look for garage doors or back gates open, people lurking in alley ways or in the streets who look suspicious, or anything else that doesn’t look right.

“If your garage door is open, for instance, we’ll either call you to alert you or come to your door. If we see a suspicious person, we call 911 on the mobile phone – we never approach them directly.”

Volunteers must go through a nine-hour training course at the police department before taking to the streets. According to Reneau, about 75 percent of the members are retired, and some volunteer to patrol as couples. Many have lived in the