Penza, 4 February 2015. PenzaNews. Over 50 people of Leninsky, Oktyabrsky and Pervomaisky areas of Penza city have joined the voluntary citizen patrol during an official ceremony and received patrolmen passports.

The event was hold in the regional government on Tuesday, February 3.

Larisa Ryabikhina, head of the headquarters and deputy head of city administration, was the first to receive her passport of the voluntary patrol.

According to Andrei Gavryushin, deputy head of the Penza city police department, the newly christened patrolmen will soon go through a theory class and practice course that will include melee training.

The head of the city voluntary patrol Mikhail Shakhov expressed his gratitude to those present at the event for being active citizens.

“The citizen patrol will grow thanks to you giving people an example yourselves. Together we will maintain the order on the city streets,” he emphasized.

Currently, there are nearly 160 people in the voluntary patrol, but only four of them have new passports, the press service of the city government told PenzaNews agency. The first voluntary patrol passports were presented to its members at the Zheleznodorozhny area administration on December 24, 2014.

Currently, the voluntary citizen groups that aim to assist the police in maintaining public order are undergoing reforms.

Earlier, they were called voluntary people’s patrols, but now merged into a single organization “Penza City Citizen Patrol” instituted on September 17, 2014. Mikhail Shakhov was elected its commander.