Longwood honors patrol volunteers who helped find wandering child

Longwood planned to recognize Citizens on Patrol members Karen Gehl and Cherie Sanders after the pair helped lead police to a young child wandering alone in the Skylark subdivision near Raven Avenue. The child was wearing only a diaper, was in the roadway without an adult nearby, and was non-verbal with a mental disability, a combination that made quick, careful action especially important.

Gehl and Sanders did not try to physically intervene. Instead, they kept the child in sight, contacted on-duty Longwood police by radio, and stayed nearby until officers arrived. Police then searched the area and found the child’s father a short time later, allowing the child to be safely reunited with the family without further incident.

The June 23 Longwood City Commission agenda included a recognition item for Gehl and Sanders for assisting in the safe recovery of a missing child. The case put a public-safety spotlight on the city’s Citizens on Patrol program, which is built around observation and fast reporting rather than confrontation.

Longwood says COP members are screened, background-checked, and trained by the Longwood Police Department. Volunteers must be at least 18, hold a valid Florida driver’s license, live in Longwood, pass background and criminal-history checks, be fingerprinted and drug tested, complete the COP Academy, and provide at least 12 hours of volunteer work each month. The program’s rules are clear: members are told to observe and report suspicious activity, and never to engage, apprehend, or follow suspects.

That limited role matters in a city where the police department says it has 50 law enforcement officers and support staff providing 24-hour coverage to residents, businesses and visitors. Trained volunteers can add eyes on the street in neighborhoods like Skylark, but they are not a substitute for sworn officers when a situation becomes dangerous or requires authority to search, detain or rescue.

Longwood also recruits for its Community Emergency Response Team, which is trained by the fire department in disaster preparedness and basic response skills. For residents who want to help in an emergency, the lesson from Skylark is straightforward: notice, report and stay safe. The limit comes the moment a situation requires police authority or a direct physical response.

The case also echoed other recent Seminole County missing-child incidents involving non-verbal children with autism, including one 5-year-old girl who was found about two hours after being reported missing, and a separate Longwood case that led to child-neglect charges against a father.