Ewu Community Policing Office May Be A First

Sheriff’s deputies, Cheney police and Eastern Washington University’s campus police joined forces in July and opened a new kind of COPS shop on campus.

“This may be the first-ever cooperative community policing program in the nation involving university, city and county law enforcement departments,” said Lt. Tom McGill of the university police.

The SCOPE shop - Sheriff’s Community Oriented Police Enforcement - has been in the planning for a year, said Stefanie Pettit, EWU spokeswoman.

The office, located in the Pence Union Building, will be staffed by trained Spokane, Cheney and university volunteers from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Officer Lorraine Hill of the EWU police department said campus police obtained a federal grant to open the office and hire two new officers.

“We have a lot of people that want to be volunteers, not only citizens, but students,” Hill said.

Hill said staff and volunteers will focus on preventive measures and education.

The office’s location, in the student union building, was specifically chosen for its high-volume traffic.

Volunteers will make neighborhood patrols intended to reduce burglaries and vehicle prowlings. They will also work to prevent underage drinking and ensure the safety of students and their neighbors.

SCOPE volunteers will be patrolling campus and city neighborhoods. They can record license numbers of suspicious cars or provide police with a description of suspicious individuals, but they aren’t allowed to confront anyone, Hill said.

Volunteers must complete eight hours of training. Additional hours are required to be eligible for traffic patrol, fingerprinting or domestic-violence intervention, Hill said.

Hill said she expects the staff to see more people when school starts in a week.

Once school is in session, Pettit said, officers and volunteers plan to meet with members of the Greek system and talk about drinking in the houses.

“We’re not trying to be big brother, but we do plan to drop in on their gatherings,” Pettit said.

Underage drinking and vandalism decreased last year when fraternities and sororities were asked to police themselves, she said.

“We told them, ‘Look, we make the rules, or you monitor yourself,”’ Pettit said.

Volunteers also plan to keep the campus’ youngest students safe.

Elementary students at Robert Reid Elementary School, located on campus, should benefit from extra crossing guards and volunteers empowered to write warning tickets to speeders.

Young students will also have the opportunity to participate in bicycle safety programs presented by volunteers.

“We had a $500 grant this summer to buy bike helmets for the children,” Hill said. ” We’re going to put on more of these programs.”

, DataTimes