Spokane may trim Crime Check hours

Where do you live?

That may be the first question Crime Check operators ask late-night callers come Jan. 1.

Give the wrong answer and you could be out of luck, told that the operator won’t help you and that you’ll have to file a report the next day.

Spokane police are proposing to cut back the city’s Crime Check service to the hours between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. each day.

Crime Check operators take non-emergency calls from the public and help them file crime reports.

The proposal is part of an effort to trim the Spokane Police Department’s 2005 budget without reducing the number of cops on the street, said Deputy Police Chief Al Odenthal.

“I can’t afford 24-7,” said Odenthal, adding that emergency 911 service would continue to be available at all times.

The question is whether it’s reasonable for people to assume they should be able to report things like a stolen purse 24 hours a day or if they can be asked to wait until the next day, he said.

Reducing Crime Check hours would bring the city’s $800,000 bill down to $350,000 to $400,000.

The county and city of Spokane Valley’s annual share of the 24-hour Crime Check system is about $475,000.

Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk told Spokane County commissioners Tuesday that he supports reducing Crime Check service for unincorporated Spokane County residents to the same levels proposed by the city of Spokane. That would reduce confusion over who has 24-hour service and who doesn’t and trim his budget by more than $200,000, he said.

But Commissioners John Roskelley and Kate McCaslin said Tuesday that they want to keep full-time Crime Check service in those areas.

“Why should people in the unincorporated area be penalized because of the city’s financial problems?” McCaslin asked.

Sterk said if commissioners give him enough money, he’d keep Crime Check going all day.

But without the city’s participation, it would cost the county $183,000 more than expected next year to serve unincorporated Spokane County and the city of Spokane Valley. Spokane Valley contracts with the county for police services.

Spokane Valley officials will have to decide if they want to invest their share of that extra cost to keep Crime Check a 24-hour service for Spokane Valley residents.

“We need the city of Spokane Valley to be a part of this discussion because they pay half the bill,” Sterk said.

Spokane Valley officials could not be reached Tuesday to comment.

The city of Spokane has already cut its school resource officer program in midyear budget slashing. There aren’t many more places other than Crime Check to look for savings in 2005, said Odenthal, adding that Spokane Mayor Jim West will have to decide whether Crime Check should be cut.