Cops Sw Plans Grand Opening On Saturday

Thu., June 8, 2000

By Carlos Acevedo carlosa@spokesman.com

COPS Southwest will host its grand opening Saturday morning, one year after volunteers moved in.

The community policing substation is finally up to code and ready for business.

Spokane Police Chief Roger Bragdon is expected to officially open the facility, at 1608 W. Sixth, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Visitors will be able to tour the substation until 4 p.m.

Substation President Shirley Wilson, neighborhood resource officer Max Hewitt and some of the 30 volunteers already on board will be available to talk about the program.

“This is a neighborhood endeavor,” Wilson said. “We are here to help the police and be a resource for residents.”

The substation is one of 10 Community Oriented Policing Services offices located throughout Spokane. COPS is a private, nonprofit organization started in 1991 by the Police Department to increase communication between the community and police.

The COPS Southwest substation originally opened on South Monroe in 1997 but relocated in February 1999, when the property owner terminated the lease.

Since then, Wilson and the other volunteers have scrambled to make the new location operational but only recently won approval from the city after fixing an improperly installed handicap access ramp.

Wilson said that despite the difficulties, the new substation, situated in two adjacent apartments, is larger and more comfortable. Now, she is eagerly promoting the substation’s services and recruiting more volunteers, who run most of the programs.

Substation volunteers perform a variety of services. Among other things, volunteers at COPS Southwest conduct neighborhood security patrols, process fingerprints at the scene of burglaries and thefts and provide engraving equipment to residents who want to mark property. Resource officers maintain offices at the substations, and patrol officers use the substation break rooms.

People can file criminal and nuisance complaints at the substations, as well. Volunteers take the complaint and submit a report to the neighborhood resource officer, who acts on the situation if it’s serious or forwards it to the Police Department, which compiles reports of criminal activity, Wilson said.

For more information on services or volunteering opportunities, call the substation at 625-3328.

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