Different Scope Volunteers At Edgecliff Station Empower Offenders To Do Better

Community corrections officer Kent Gonzalez moved his office to the Edgecliff neighborhood a year ago to be closer to his clients.

Anywhere between 30 and 40 offenders, who already lived in Edgecliff or the West Valley area, began reporting to the Edgecliff SCOPE station.

That move has meant a big change for both the volunteers at Edgecliff SCOPE - Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort - and the offenders living in the neighborhood.

SCOPE volunteers have begun to see offenders as neighbors who need respect and encouragement. Offenders are realizing that the entire community holds them accountable.

“The community can hold people more accountable than any coercive thing the (police) officers or we can do,” Gonzalez said.

Holding the offenders accountable means getting to know them and let them know that they’re expected not just to keep themselves out of jail but to get their lives back together.

For several offenders, that challenge has been empowering.

“People live up to whatever you expect of them,” said SCOPE Edgecliff president Jackie Ash. “We expect them to succeed.”

Ash challenged Sharon Bartosh, who was convicted of aggravated robbery last year, to apply for grants and enroll in classes to get a degree in child psychology.

The past year hasn’t been perfect, but Bartosh doubts she would have gotten through it without the support of Ash.

“I went there and found trust and respect,” said Bartosh.

Because of its affordable housing, Edgecliff has always had a high concentration of offenders. Before last year, there was a lot of mistrust between SCOPE volunteers and offenders who lived in the area.

As Lani Parker, who had a felony drug conviction, observed: “If you’ve been in trouble, the neighborhood cop shop is not a place you go to meet people.”

For Parker, who has lived in Edgecliff for 17 years, the change has helped her feel connected to the community.

“It’s the first time I feel part of a neighborhood,” she said.

Parker said she stops by the SCOPE station even when she doesn’t have an appointment. She drinks coffee and talks with the SCOPE volunteer at the front desk. She’s found a mentor and friend in Ash.

Neighborhood reporting helps reduce recidivism, or the likelihood that an offender will relapse back into crime, said Washington State Corrections Secretary Joe Lehman.

The Department of Corrections saw the successes of community policing in the mid 1990s and realized the same could be done to reduce recidivism rates among ex-cons.

“It’s the good experience in Spokane that has led us in this direction,” Lehman said in a telephone interview.

The Spokane area leads the state in placing corrections officers in neighborhoods where there are high levels of offenders already living there. Fourteen officers work out of seven COPS stations in the city of Spokane. Gonzalez is the only officer in the county.

That will likely change in the future. SCOPE wants more corrections officers in substations, said SCOPE director Bonnie Abernethy.

“It’s a great partnership,” she said.

For the first time, information has begun flowing between deputies, detectives and corrections officers. That hadn’t ever happen before Gonzalez came last fall, said detective Jim Speaks, who works out of the SCOPE Edgecliff office.

Speaks recently got a report on a burglary and determined one of Kent’s offenders was involved.

He talked to Kent and went out and made the arrest.

“The information exchanged has increased dramatically between the DOC and law enforcement. Two sets of eyes are always better than one.”

Thirty-six-year-old John Bell, who was convicted of selling drugs to an undercover officer, credits Gonzalez and the SCOPE volunteers with encouraging him to stay out of trouble.

Bell currently is a manager at a Perkins restaurant and dreams of someday becoming a chef. His probation period ends this month.

“I feel good, great, wonderful,” Bell said.

Trinity Hartman can be reached at 927-2164 or by e-mail at trinityh@spokesman.com.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SEPT. 23 Walk for Success

The Edgecliff neighborhood will host its third annual Walk for Success on Sept. 23.

The walk, which starts at 10 a.m. at Edgecliff Park at 8th Avenue and Park Road, is a peaceful demonstration of unity against drugs, violence and crime.

There will be speakers along the route, including Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk, Commissioner Kate McCaslin and School District 81 Associate Superintendent Nancy Stowell. After the walk there will be food and games at the park.

Anyone with questions should call the SCOPE Edgecliff office at 477-6345.