The Force Behind The Police Force

A ffixed to a wall next Gloria Fontinell’s desk is a pig magnet. “Please,” it reads, “I can only do 12 things at once.”

It’s a trait that Fontinell, president of COPS Northwest in the Shadle Shopping Center, relies on daily.

For the past year, Fontinell, 49, has been a steady force behind the community policing effort in northwest Spokane, working more than 150 hours a month in the unpaid position.

During that time she and the 60 COPS volunteers have organized both a memorial service for a slain girl and a neighborhood picnic.

They lived through a burglary of their office, they’ve closed down a drug house, sustained neighborhood observation patrols on Friday and Saturday nights; started taking routine police reports and cleaning up graffiti.

“And Terry Mangan will tell you we give the best hugs of all the cop shops,” Fontinell says.

Behind it all is the philosophy that people need to engage each other to build their community.

Senior citizens who need a hand with yard cleanup or errands telephone for help. Volunteers painted the substation, and all the equipment and office supplies were donated. It’s the only substation operating without any community development money.

COPS Northwest volunteers spent three months tracing drug activity in a home at 2312 W. Wabash and succeeded in getting the offenders evicted. Afterward, they called rental companies listing homes nearby and asked them to research criminal histories of tenants.

Keeping all the activities going, Fontinell depends on her force of personality and commitment. And her ability to attract volunteers.

“I’m pretty aggressive, I go in and yank them out of the mall. I believe in this, this is the best thing they can do for their neighborhood,” the 1964 North Central High School graduate says.

Fontinell has also been involved with Shadle Shopping Center’s leasing agent, Tomlinson Black Inc., in trying to secure a permanent place for the substation after a proposed mall redevelopment project.

Doing that may tap her organization skills as volunteers would have to commit to doing most of the finishing work and securing donated building materials and office supplies.

But of all the COPS Northwest efforts so far, Fontinell says the neighborhood picnic held in July was the highlight of the year. They had expected 300 people, and ended up feeding more than 700.

“Shadle’s never done this and we were a little nervous what response we’d get,” she says. “But all these people came and got acquainted, they laughed, kids had a great time.

“That’s what we really wanted - to bring the neighborhood together.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo