Cops Needs Helpful Neighbors For Success

TOP COPS, COPS North Central Rick Albin

625-3350 (TOP), 625-3348 (North central)

Rick Albin took over as the downtown neighborhood resource officer five years ago.

At the time, drug-dealing and prostitution were common on the very block where the substation was located. The 26-year police veteran worked hard to clean up the neighborhood.

He did such a good job, he said half-jokingly, that KHQ-TV bought the property and the substation had to move.

Neighborhood resource officers work diligently with area residents, but Albin also works with the downtown business community. He sees himself as a liaison between businesses and the Police Department.

“Downtown Spokane is very unique. It has 3,000 residents, but a population of 25,000 to 30,000 during the day. These are people who work downtown but don’t really have a community connection there,” Albin said.

He faxes information on crimes and business scams to downtown merchants and they, in turn, fax him information on suspicious activity.

Downtown Spokane’s most significant social and criminal issue, Albin said, is homeless youth.

Many are both offenders and victims, trapped because they are in a vicious cycle where they commit crimes to feed drug addictions.

“They want to survive and this is how they do it,” he said. It’s a problem that Spokane will not be able to solve easily.

Two weeks ago, Albin also assumed the COPS North Central area.

COPS Southwest, COPS West Max Hewitt 625-3328 (Southwest), 625-3340 (West)

Max Hewitt is an out-and-about kind of officer.

“I feel it’s important to be out in the community and visible as much as possible,” he said. “People are my stock and trade.”

Hewitt spent much of his career in gang-ridden San Diego. He knows gangs, and said Spokane has its share.

Browne’s Addition falls under Hewitt’s area of responsibility.

He said he has observed what he describes as a swath of gang activity running from the South Hill’s southwest corner through Browne’s Addition and up to the neighborhoods north of the historic district.

When he identifies where gang members live in his area, he makes a point of knocking on their doors.

“I talk to them. For one thing, I can gather intelligence from them. But for another, when I knock on their door, they know they are being watched,” he said.

Other problems high on his priority list are absentee landlords and vehicle prowlings.

Hewitt became a resource officer, he said, because he was tired of patrolling. “All you ever do is respond to calls.”

As an NRO, Hewitt feels like he can effect long-term solutions to crime.

“This is a lot more fun and satisfying,” he said. “And, I work with a lot of good people.”

COPS Southeast

Dan Bunn

625-3326

A self-described techno geek, Dan Bunn is connected. He loves computers and gadgets, an affinity he shares with NRO Rick Albin.

Bunn uses a computer to organize and disseminate information to the community. He has a cell phone, pager and Palm Pilot - a computer Rolodex and personal organizer that helps him keep information on contacts and volunteers.

And he needs all the help he can get. COPS Southeast has between 200 and 300 volunteers at any given time, more then any other three COPS shops combined.

“We’ve got a great team up here, and I take great pride in that,” he said.

Bunn said it took him three tries before he was accepted for the resource officer position. Sitting before a citizens’ board, Bunn would expound on why he wanted to be an NRO. But it seemed to him that the first two times the interviewers didn’t like what he said.

“I never sweated so much in my life,” he said.

After much “soul searching,” Bunn realized that he had been going into the interview with the wrong attitude. He had gone in as the “expert.” He was going to tell them what the problems were in their community and how to fix them. Citizens didn’t want that, he realized.

Bunn sailed through his third interview. “I said, `You tell me what you need.’ “

“It was a major change in my mentality.”

COPS East Central Bill Schaber 625-3330

When NRO Bill Schaber talks about the East Central neighborhood, he appears to swell with pride. He’s not given to smiling much, but when he mentions how much better life is for area residents, his serious demeanor softens.

“It makes me feel real good to see our crime statistics down,” he said. “When I came out here five years ago, things were a lot worse.”

At that time, there were “abandoned cars everywhere, debris and tons of drug houses,” he said. “Now, I have to go searching for them.”

A 27-year veteran of the Police Department, Schaber’s focus when he started was to build relationships. He went out and talked to residents, landlords and business owners.

It has paid off. He cites as an example a recent case where a drug dealer being chased by police dumped his drugs in someone’s yard. The resident called police immediately to say she found the drugs.

“That wouldn’t have happened five, six years ago,” he explained.

He likens his role in the community to a wheel hub - with himself at the center and community members radiating out like spokes.

Now, with close ties to East Central, Schaber has a sense of ownership in the old Spokane neighborhood.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make my neighborhood safe.”

Graphic with map: Neighborhood COPS substations