Looking For Trouble Volunteers Go Out In The Dark To Act As E And Ears For Police And Give Early Warnings Of Trouble

The incessant chatter emanating from the police radio scanner fills the vehicles.

Minivans and sedans that shuttle kids and groceries during the week quickly become security vehicles when magnetic signs reading, “NOP” are slapped on the doors.

Neighborhood Organization Patrol units are now ready for work.

The 27 volunteer patrolmen and women in the West Gate community are a mixed bunch, but what they all have in common is the desire to keep their neighborhood safe.

Nan Lindsey is the coordinator of the West Gate NOPs, which officially started patrols a little more than a year ago.

A single unit patrols neighborhoods in Northwest Spokane from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends.

“Typically we go out on weekends and drive around, look for anything obvious, opened garage doors, keeping an eye on neighbors’ homes who might be out of town and party houses and graffiti,” Lindsey said.

Underage drinkers at Albi Stadium have scattered since patrols started, Lindsey said.

“We took license plate numbers, vehicle and descriptions of the kids and then called Crime Check,” Lindsey said. “The police responded and cited those who were caught. We don’t see them up here anymore.”

Dave Morse, the group’s past president and co-founder, said incident reports filed with the police department this past year are still being compiled.

Because it was the first year crime statistics were taken in that part of Spokane, first-year figures won’t show whether crime has actually decreased in the area, Morse said.

However, he is confident that the presence of the West Gate NOPs has been felt.

“When the kids are hanging out and you show up, they know you’re watching,” Morse said. “They don’t fear us like the police, but after a while they leave because they get frustrated with being watched.”

Lindsey said volunteers are concerned about the population increase in the area.

“It’s really growing out here,” Lindsey said. “We just wanted to prevent any problems. We want to be organized and have our presence known.”

Spokane Police Chief Terry Mangan called the 12 NOP patrols throughout Spokane and their 150 registered volunteers “an extra set of eyes and ears for the police department.”

NOP units emerged in Spokane two years ago. Like Spokane COPS volunteers, NOP members are screened by the police department. Volunteers undergo an eight-hour training course at the police academy.

Mangan has been an advocate of neighborhood policing throughout his career.

He said many of his beliefs about community policing were shaped by Sir Robert Peel, a man who helped London develop a strong community police force in the early to mid-1800s.

Some critics assert that community policing is just a way for the police department to get everyday citizens to do its job.

Mangan disagrees.

“The NOPs are a wonderful resource,” he said. “An officer responding to a call in a particular neighborhood may not see a suspicious car on the street if he isn’t familiar with the street.

“Neighborhood patrols know what’s out of place and what isn’t,” he said. “The police department has solved burglaries with the help of the logs the NOPs keep.”

When Rachel Carver was missing two years ago, Mangan said it was a NOPs unit that followed her uncle, Jason Wickenhagen, from his home to the site where law enforcement officials eventually found the body of the 9-year-old girl in Riverside State Park.

Wickenhagen later confessed to the killing and was eventually sentenced to life in prison without parole.

“They work in a way that is not intrusive to the police force,” Mangan said. “They are not out playing cops and robbers.”

NOPs volunteers carry cell phones and police scanners with the names and numbers of other nearby NOP units. The equipment was paid for through volunteer fund-raisers.

Lindsey recalled an incident in which a group of youths began to advance on a West Gate NOP unit after the teens realized they were being watched.

“At that point, the patrol unit called for backup, and the NevaWood NOPs arrived within five minutes before the police arrived later,” Lindsey said.

“It’s good to know that you can get other NOP units there quickly.”

But West Gate volunteer Carol Fullmer added: “We don’t have many ways to protect ourselves.”

Lindsey said if a situation requires the expertise of law enforcement, volunteers are instructed to stay 10 blocks away from the site to let police officers do their work.

Fullmer said she has been hobnobbing with the NOP since the unit was formed. She and her 19-year-old son, Pat, are patrol partners.

Fullmer said most patrol nights are not action-filled adventures.

“The basic object is to observe,” Fullmer said. “We don’t confront people.”

Lindsey, 37, who usually goes on patrol with her husband, Keith, has her own portable police scanner that she listens to most every night.

She said there is just too much crime taking place for the police department to serve everybody immediately.

“Some of the calls are so ridiculous, but the police have to respond to them,” Lindsey said. “No community oriented policing program is going to end all crime. But we are in a unique position to help solve some of it.

“I think we are doing a very good job for the police,” she said.

Mangan concurred.

“The bottom line is that there are never going to be enough police officers to serve everyone,” he said. “A small group of paid officers to work for the collective community - it’ll never completely work.

“The concept is that the people are police. That’s the democratic idea of policing,” Mangan said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo