East Central C.O.P.S. Urgently Needs Volunteers

I work as a volunteer at C.O.P.S Haven, a Spokane police substation in the city’s East Central neighborhood. One morning, right after I opened the door, a woman walked in crying. Her boyfriend had been verbally abusing her. She didn’t know where to turn.

I made some calls and got the young woman some help. I was happy that day to be able to make someone’s life a little better. But most days, I feel incredible frustration. This substation, which opened in September at the corner of Fifth and Haven, is here to make our neighborhood safer and make our community closer. We take police reports and act as a resource to get residents help of all kinds. Unfortunately, we are desperately short of volunteers to work in the substation.

To keep this place open six days a week, 12 hours a day, would require at least 100 volunteers. We have about 22 volunteers and only 13 are active. We have gone door-to-door, spoken with church and community groups, sent out letters and practically begged for volunteers, yet few new volunteers are forthcoming.

And the volunteers we do have are primarily white. One of East Central’s good points is its diversity. African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and immigrants from the former Soviet Union all live here. We would love for them to be represented as volunteers at C.O.P.S. Haven.

I’ve lived in East Central for 11 years. I don’t want to live anywhere else. We have three beautiful parks, vibrant community and youth centers and families who have lived here for generations. We have many hard-working, decent people, but our reputation in the rest of Spokane is not so good. People are afraid to drive our streets at night.

I want East Central to be safe for my 1-year-old grandchild who often visits. I hope we’ll be a success story like the West Central neighborhood where businesses and residents work together to fight crime.

I know that there is mistrust of the police by many people in our neighborhood, but the substation is staffed by community volunteers, not the police. If you care about making this a safer, saner place to live, we need your help. Desperately. Please, give it a try.

ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.