Crackdown On West First City Announces Plan For More Police, More Lights, Less Parking On Dangerous Block

(From For the Record, August 7, 1996:) Hal King works for the owners of the Alberta Apartments and Otis Hotel on West First Avenue. An article in Tuesday’s Spokesman-Review incorrectly reported his position. In addition, the length of time Coach House owners recently closed the restaurant at night also was reported incorrectly. The restaurant on West First was closed for 30 nights.

The National Guard won’t be patrolling the corner of First and Madison any time soon.

Police Chief Terry Mangan’s plan for cleaning up crime-ridden West First Avenue calls for less stringent measures - to the chagrin of some residents and business owners.

Mangan unveiled his strategy Monday for cracking down on an escalating turf battle among drug dealers that’s threatening to turn the block into a war zone.

Startled by the most recent violence, including two drive-by shootings that wounded six people, Mayor Jack Geraghty told Mangan last week to get tough, even if he had to “call in the National Guard.”

Mangan’s three-month plan doesn’t go that far. It calls for beefing up the police presence in the area by assigning four officers to patrol West First for their entire shifts. There also will be increased undercover investigations and drug sweeps.

Mangan assured members of the City Council’s public safety committee his plan will “break this latest … outburst of violence.”

Police think two or three gangs have been shooting up First and Madison in a drug war.

“They’ve upped the ante, so we have to up the ante,” Deputy Chief Larry Hersom told the committee. “This is the big Band-Aid.”

Hersom said detectives also will begin targeting “midlevel suppliers” - the people who supply street dealers with their merchandise.

Councilwoman Roberta Greene said the plan sounds like a good start and implored area business owners and residents to join forces with the police.

City engineers said they plan to install more lighting and prohibit parking along portions of West First to stop curbside patronizing of prostitutes and crack peddlers.

West First resident Hal King shook his head and literally bit his tongue Monday as he listened to Mangan and other city officials outline the short-term crime-fighting plan.

“I didn’t hear anything today that offered me any hope,” said King, who owns the low-rent Otis and Alberta hotels near First and Madison. “They’re looking for simple answers to complicated questions.”

King and Sung Kim, owner of The Coach House restaurant on West First, claimed police don’t enforce laws already on the books.

Patrol officers allow people to loiter, trespass and deal drugs in plain sight, they said.

Mangan said the new policy is the best he can do with limited resources.

“We could stand down there and arrest people all day,” he said. “These people are not going to go away. They’re making a lot of money selling drugs here.”

The chief brushed aside contentions that the violence, prostitution and drug trade on West First are beyond his department’s control.

“With all due respect to 1100 West First, it’s not the city’s highest crime area,” Mangan said.

The latest statistics show that calls from the area seeking police assistance have declined 1 percent, he said.

“We have been making some progress down there since 1987,” said Mangan, referring to the year the police opened a substation on West First.

King disputed that. He said crime is bad on the block and getting worse.

“Of course, there’s a reduction in calls,” said King, stammering in frustration. “People are giving up. They figure, ‘What good does it do?’ In 2007, they’re still going to be meeting and talking about this.”

Mangan told the public safety committee - consisting of Greene, Geraghty and Councilman Jeff Colliton - that it makes no sense to spend money for permanent extra patrols in an area that already receives a lot of police attention.

At any time, 20 percent of the patrol officers on duty in the city are assigned to downtown, said Capt. Chuck Bown.

Mangan said, “1100 West First already receives more policing attention than anywhere else in the city.”

Shifting more resources to the area would leave other sectors under-protected and would just drive the dealers and hookers to other parts of town, Mangan said.

King laughed. “Put that on some poor clown’s tombstone - ‘Sorry, we didn’t have the money,”’ he said.

Kim criticized Geraghty and the council for not using their clout to help clean up the area and bristled at the suggestion that business owners haven’t done enough to help their own cause.

Kim said she closed The Coach House at night for three months recently, but crime didn’t slow down.

“They have to come down here,” she said of city officials. “They need to eat at The Coach House and sleep at the hotels. They need to see it.”

She paused.

“After the last shooting, the victims ran into my restaurant to look for help. They bled all over the floor. We’re the ones who have to clean that up,” Kim said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WORKING OVERTIME The Spokane Police Department will spend nearly $130,000 on overtime pay to beef up patrols in the 1100 block of West First Avenue through October. Four officers will patrol the block during 10-hour shifts, mostly at night. That’s in addition to the normal complement of up to 10 officers working the downtown corridor. No new officers will be hired.