Youths Fulfill Community Service By Helping Cops Northeast

With snow piled all around, two 15-year-old boys dug in last week to clear a northeast Spokane bus stop.

Shovel by shovel they removed the snow at Lacey Street and Diamond Avenue. Solid ground emerged for STA passengers to stand and wait. Snow was also removed from around a fire hydrant, making the neighborhood just a little safer.

Though under the supervision of COPS Northeast, the community policing program in Hillyard, the two youths were not exactly volunteers.

They were doing community service because they committed crimes.

Other not-for-profit groups such as Habitat For Humanity, the Martin Luther King Center, and the downtown neighborhoods have for years taken advantage of the labor of juvenile offenders sentenced to perform community service.

Each of the teens shoveling snow in Hillyard had been sentenced to more than 100 hours of service. This year, COPS Northeast started tapping into the juvenile justice system to fill needs in the neighborhood, said Del Irish, president of COPS Northeast.

“Keeping bus stops clear, clearing hydrants, that’s a way for them to pay back the community,” said Irish.

Irish pitched in and shoveled alongside the boys as did Cherie Pelanca, another COPS Northeast volunteer.

After the street corner was cleared, the team headed to the home of an elderly woman who had called COPS Northeast for help. She had no way to clear the snow from her driveway.

It took less than 20 minutes for the team to bring the driveway down to clean pavement. Then they cleared the front walkway and blazed a trail to the back garage.

Irish hopes to get others involved in the volunteer service, especially adults who can supervise work crews.

One of the boys shoveling snow last week was sentenced for stealing a car and possessing a firearm. He wants some day to work in juvenile justice.

The other, sentenced for burglary and assault, wants to go to technical school and learn a construction trade. But first he wants to finish his 120 hours of community work.

With his shovel propped up against his body, the boy looked at the snow still falling all around.

“This is the last offense I hope I do,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo