Deputy Trains Volunteers On Starting Block Watches

One crime prevention program is giving a big boost to another in the Spokane Valley.

Several SCOPE (Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort) volunteers have completed a 24-hour training in setting up neighborhood Block Watch programs.

Residents interested in setting up crime prevention on their block now will be trained by one of seven community volunteers.

“We’re hoping to set up four Block Watches in the month of February,” said Shelley Wiemer, referring to her Trentwood neighborhood. Wiemer volunteers at both SCOPE East Valley and SCOPE West Valley and completed Block Watch training in November.

Sheriff’s deputy Jim Alma, who’s headed up Block Watch for the past 15 years, has trained seven people, from Chattaroy to Otis Orchards, in how to set up the crime prevention program.

When Alma retires in March, the trained volunteers will help ease the transition for the deputy who takes over the position.

About 600 of the 930 Block Watches that the Sheriff’s Department has helped start since 1979 are in the Valley, Alma said. He estimates Block Watch has reduced burglary by about 60 percent in the past 15 years.

Block Watch participants keep an eye out for suspicious activity on their block. Residents report problems to a block watch captain.

At their last meeting, SCOPE University volunteers discussed setting up Block Watches in the area surrounding their building at University and 15th.

Susan Ring is one of Alma’s trainees and said she expects to receive more training requests in coming months. “I think we’re going to have a big boom,” Ring said.

The deputy in charge of Block Watch will work out of SCOPE University after the building opens, said Sheriff John Goldman. The trained volunteers will enhance Block Watch and make it more “proactive,” Goldman said.

At Alma’s 24-hour training session, held during three consecutive Saturdays, volunteers learn about crime prevention, public safety and personal safety. They learn security tips like turning on outside lights and alerting neighbors when people go on vacation.

The next training session will be held during three Saturdays in February. “Twenty people are signed up for that one,” Alma said. “Lots from SCOPE.”

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Training dates The Sheriff’s Department’s next crime prevention practitioner training will take place Feb. 11, 18 and 25. Classes run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A site has not yet been decided. For information, call Deputy Jim Alma at 458-6625.