Scope Groups To Share Space

Two sheriff’s substation groups are getting neighborly in the Spokane Valley.

A SCOPE group in the East Valley area has been looking for a building to call home since the summer. A group in nearby Millwood had a building before people were even organized.

Now the two are trying to put their heads together.

A temporary board of directors at SCOPE West Valley voted to allow SCOPE East Valley to share its building while the latter group searches for one of its own, chairman Bill Langdon said.

SCOPE stands for Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort. Community volunteers are trained by the Sheriff’s Department to staff substations, which are used as neighborhood crime prevention centers.

SCOPE West Valley, formerly called SCOPE Millwood, was given space in a building at E9411 Trent when the Sheriff’s Department decided to move its traffic unit there.

The SCOPE West Valley group changed its name after the first meeting to attract more people.

At a community meeting Thursday night, the West Valley group approved the decision to let SCOPE East Valley share space.

“It’s a collaboration of efforts really,” said Shelley Wiemer, who works with both groups. “It’s kind of funny because never before has a building been ready before the people were.”

SCOPE University has a building at University and 15th that serves as SCOPE headquarters. SCOPE East, a group in Otis Orchards separate from SCOPE East Valley, is still searching for a building.

The space-sharing arrangement does not mean SCOPE East Valley will stop looking for a building, Wiemer said. The arrangement will only be temporary.

“We want a building here,” Wiemer said, referring to the Trentwood neighborhood.

The East Valley group will ask members of its community at a meeting next month if the offer to share space should be accepted, she said.

All people wishing to staff a SCOPE station need to attend 16 hours of Sheriff’s Department training. About 11 people are trained in the East Valley group. West Valley has only one trained member.

Training sessions have been set up at Millwood City Hall on Jan. 23, 24, 30 and 31 from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Two final hours of training will take place at the Spokane County Jail on Feb. 4 at 9 a.m.