Community Police Office Opens At Ewu

A recent $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice is being used by Eastern Washington University to hire two new police officers and open a Sheriff’s Community Oriented Police Enforcement office on campus.

The SCOPE office has been established in Room 220 of the Pence Union Building on the EWU campus and will staffed by officers from EWU Police, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the Cheney Police Department and volunteers recruited from the university and Cheney communities.

“(It) may be the first-ever cooperative community policing program in the nation involving university, city and county law enforcement programs,” said Lt. Tom McGill of EWU Police Operations.

The purpose of the SCOPE program is to raise public awareness, get the public involved in the community’s safety and “to take responsibility for taking care of the community we live in,” McGill said.

The SCOPE office will help residents get involved with crime-prevention efforts, McGill said. In applying for the grant, EWU agreed to dedicate one of the new officers to community policing.

McGill said citizen involvement is needed to solve a community’s problems and to make this program a success.

“Otherwise, there are not enough police in the world to solve our problems,” he said.

While this cooperative program is unique, the idea of community-oriented policing isn’t new, said Jerry Gardner, Cheney chief of police. Small towns have always had an increased awareness of their community’s needs, he said.

Gardner said having the SCOPE office on campus will provide a neutral ground for students and residents of the community and rural areas to exchange information or discuss issues and interests in a non-threatening, comfortable environment.

The two new officers, Michele Heffernan and Matthew Pumphrey, are training at the Spokane Police Academy through June 24. Volunteers, who are being recruited from the EWU Criminal Justice Department, fraternities, residence halls and the community, will be trained by the sheriff’s department to assist officers in general duties, such as taking fingerprints, writing reports and providing information for programs such as Blockwatch, campus escort services and student patrols.

Citizens can be the “eyes and ears” of the local police or sheriff’s departments. With more people ready to report suspicious activity, McGill says, crime should decrease.

The grant will fund 75 percent of the new officers’ salaries for three years. EWU has agreed to cover 25 percent of the salaries.

After three years, EWU will take over full funding of the program, at about $78,000 a year, according to McGill.

McGill said the long-term goal is to hire at least three officers over four years to deal with the projected EWU student population of 12,000 by the year 2000. EWU Police Operations now employs eight officers.

An open house is being planned.

For more information, call McGill at 359-2777.