Detectives Assigned To Substations To Help Scope Out Crime

The wall above Detective Tom Thompson’s desk is splattered with color. It’s not art, it’s crime: blue dots for burglaries, red for prowlings, green for car thefts.

The dots cover Thompson’s map of the south Valley. His job is to connect them - and to eventually make them disappear.

Stationed in the SCOPE University substation at 10621 E. 15th, Thompson has been pursuing the task for nearly a year. Soon he will be joined in the Valley by detectives assigned to work out of the SCOPE West Valley and SCOPE Edgecliff substations.

The detectives, who will focus on property crimes, are part of the Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Enforcement effort. It’s goal is to increase public involvement and improve crime fighting by moving police into the neighborhoods. In the past, most deputies and detectives worked out of downtown offices. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Department began implementing SCOPE about three years ago.

“We wanted to get in closer contact with the communities,” said Capt. Doug Silver, head of the Sheriff’s Department’s investigation division. It began with patrol officers taking on geographic beats. Then, neighborhood volunteers began patroling their neighborhoods and meeting in new SCOPE stations, which popped up around the Valley.

Now, throughout the county, property crimes detectives will work out of neighborhood offices. Other types of detectives are expected to follow, Silver said. The exception will be investigators whose crimes are rare and scattered throughout the county. Homicide is an example.

Proponents of community-oriented policing hope it will reduce crime and increase public involvement.

“Out here, residents can just knock on the front door,” said Detective Tim Hines, who joined Thompson in the SCOPE University substation last fall. “We’re hoping the public will talk to us more, work with us,”

Next month, Detective Chuck Ellis will set up an office at SCOPE West Valley, 9411 E. Trent. Detective Steve Barbieri will begin working out of SCOPE Edgecliff, 7206 E. First. In addition, a deputy prosecutor, who will also focus on property crimes, will move into the SCOPE Edgecliff office within the next few months.

SCOPE University last year became the first substation to house detectives because it had office space available. Working there full-time, Hines and Thompson have mapped out each reported property crime and collected statistics for the area bounded by Sprague Avenue on the north, 32nd Avenue on the south, Dishman Mica Road on the west and the Idaho state line on the east. Just since May 1, there have been 114 vehicle prowlings, 18 vehicle thefts and 60 burglaries.

About half of the vehicle prowlings were preventable, Hines said. Too many people leave their cars unlocked or store valuables in clear sight, he said. Only about one percent see their stolen property returned.

“What I’d like to see,” Hines said, “is the number of preventable crimes reduced drastically.”

Evaluating the success of community policing will take some time, Silver said. Crime statistics and neighborhood feedback will be two important measures.

Silver hopes the new philosophy will lead residents to become more involved in finding solutions to crime. At the SCOPE University detectives’ office, the process is still in the beginning stages, Hines said. “It’s not yet widely known that we’re out here,” he said.

SCOPE survey

The Sheriff’s Department wants to brainstorm.

About 400 residents in the area served by SCOPE Edgecliff will soon be asked to complete a survey asking how safe they feel in their neighborhood, what their biggest crimes concerns are, and how they think those crimes should be fought.

The Sheriff’s Department will use the results to plan a strategy for community policing in that area.

The Department plans to hold neighborhood meetings in other areas to gather similar information. Those meetings have not yet been scheduled.

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