To Catch A Thief Citizen Volunteers Go To The Front Lines Of War On Valley Crime To Collect Fingerprints, Patrol Neighborhoods

Don Chatterton flipped off the headlights and eased his blue Pontiac Grand Am next to the curb.

Though the temperature was near freezing, the windows were rolled down. “Sometimes we just sit and watch and listen,” Chatterton said.

It was 11 p.m. and another night on the citizens patrol was just beginning.

A few minutes later, Chatterton and his partner, Brian Nam, watched three cars in rapid succession run a stop sign north of Millwood. Chatterton steered back onto the road and followed the suspicious cars just long enough to note their makes and colors, in case someone reported a crime in the neighborhood.

Chatterton and Nam are two of nearly 60 Spokane Valley residents who have been patrolling Valley neighborhoods since October. They work in pairs as part of Citizens On Patrol, a SCOPE volunteer program.

The program’s goal is to help swamped sheriff’s deputies fight the Valley’s growing crime problem. Deputies are glad to have the support. “They like having the extra eyes out looking after things,” said sheriff’s Lt. Danny O’Dell.

Volunteers focus mainly on preventing car and home burglaries. About 40 volunteers are also trained to collect fingerprints from vehicles that have been burglarized.

“Something’s being done about (car burglaries) now, whereas in the past nothing was being done,” Chatterton said, slowing behind an Opportunity apartment complex that has been plagued by car burglaries.

Armed with police scanners and cellular telephones, volunteers take turns cruising neighborhoods nightly in their own cars. Though he is not reimbursed for gas, Chatterton said he logs between 30 and 50 miles on each of his three weekly patrols.

Volunteers drive by convenience stores, churches, apartments and neighborhoods frequently targeted by criminals. They check parked cars for damage, look for people wandering through yards late at night and for cars cruising slowly through neighborhoods.

“We’re looking for somebody obviously out of (place),” Chatterton said.

Volunteers also stop and talk to business employees and others to encourage them to point out suspected criminals and report crimes. Information is passed along to deputies, or to Crime Check if the danger is immediate.

“Observe and communicate. That’s our mission,” Chatterton said.

Last month, Chatterton and Nam noticed a pickup truck parked awkwardly in an alley behind some Millwood businesses and thought a burglary might be in progress. They waved down a passing sheriff’s deputy, who discovered the truck had been hot-wired. It turned out the truck had been stolen from a house on the North Side earlier.

Chatterton was disappointed he and Nam did not catch the thieves. “We missed them just barely,” Chatterton said, adding that the pickup had not been there when the two passed through the neighborhood just 20 minutes earlier.

But that kind of excitement is rare and the nights can get long, Chatterton said. Volunteers stay out as late as 3 a.m. “A lot of this is fairly boring,” Chatterton said.

Each volunteer has been through 40 hours of classes detailing the do’s and don’ts of citizen patrol.

Their role is not to confront criminals or make arrests. Carrying weapons is prohibited.

Instead, volunteers make a difference just by being seen. The magnetic placards fixed to the doors and rear of their cars, the SCOPE T-shirts and vests they wear all carry the sheriff’s star and SCOPE name.

“A lot of times (criminals) will decide this isn’t the area they want to be in,” Chatterton said.

When criminals do strike, SCOPE volunteers often are called to dust for fingerprints.

Trained volunteers have collected fingerprints after more than 100 car burglaries since the program began over three months ago. Two people whose prints were taken from car burglary scenes by SCOPE volunteers have been arrested.

James Zellers, 22, was pleasantly surprised when SCOPE University volunteers Barb Smith and Tom Danners showed up to collect fingerprints after he reported that his car had been broken into.

“I came from California and have been robbed and broken into more times than I can count,” Zellers said. “Never once have fingerprints been taken. Nothing.”

Smith and Danners dusted Zeller’s car for prints and came away with five sets of readable prints. The prints were entered into the Sheriff’s Department’s computer system, where they can be compared to prints already on file or matched with prints taken during a future arrest.

The neighborhood patrol and fingerprint gathering programs are two examples of how Valley residents are helping the Sheriff’s Department fight crime, Chatterton said.

“We’ll probably prevent a lot more crime than we’ll know about,” Nam added.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED The Spokane County Sheriff’s Department SCOPE program is always looking for volunteers. All volunteers get basic training, and more classes are available to those who want to learn to collect fingerprints, set up Block Watch programs, or participate in citizen patrols. For more information or to volunteer, call sheriff’s Lt. Danny O’Dell or Terry Carver at 456-2315.