COPS West reopens

On Dec. 31, when most people were making plans for a night of celebration, more than 20 volunteers from throughout the city gathered to clean up the house that will serve as a temporary location for COPS West. On Dec. 27, a suspicious early morning fire damaged the building at 1901 W. Boone Ave. that was home to Spokane’s first COPS (Community Oriented Policing Service) substation in the West Central neighborhood.

“It was difficult for all of us. COPS West is like our baby. We just started packing up, not knowing where we were going,” said Vernita Fowler, COPS West president.

By that afternoon, the West Central Community Center had offered COPS West a house that it could move into and use through the end of March. The 1970s split-entry house is across the street from the center at 2030 W. Spofford Ave.

According to Don Higgins, executive director of the center, the tenant had just vacated the house and turned in the keys three days earlier.

“The timing couldn’t have been better for us to extend a hand of community cooperation. They provide an invaluable service to the community,” said Higgins.

The COPS West substation opened in 1992, as a result of the community’s outrage over the kidnapping and murder of two neighborhood girls. “This neighborhood comes together in tough times. When those girls disappeared, everyone was just devastated. I get upset when people call it ‘Felony Flats.’ Since the COP shop opened we have seen great changes in the neighborhood,” said Fowler.

The volunteers that gathered to clean up the new location included City Council President Dennis Hession and Councilwoman Mary Verner. Volunteers from neighboring COPS shops joined several West Central regulars, helping to scrub the house from the floors to the light fixtures.

“Everyone pitched in; I’ve never seen such a group. We got here at 9 a.m., and people were waiting at the door for us,” said Fowler.

Fowler hopes that COPS West will be up and running as soon as possible. Currently phone calls are going to an answering machine that the volunteers check hourly. Volunteers are trying to keep the substation on Spofford open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“One of the saddest things was the loss of the computer lab that was available for neighborhood kids to use. It’s going to be on hold for awhile,” said Fowler.

“We need computers for our everyday business use. But we hate to go to a lot of expense since we’re only here temporarily,” said Fowler.

Two Washington Department of Corrections parole officers, assigned to about 100 parolees, were also housed in the COPS West building. They are currently working out of the DOC’s Broadway office but the plan is for them to work from the Spofford location. Fowler said that ideally, everyone who is involved at the COPS West building will stay together.

Bob Lipe owns the building where the fire occurred and has insurance to cover renovation costs. Lipe said after repairs are completed the building will become the home to COPS West again. “We’ve already had people look at it so they can tell us what it will cost to fix it. We’re planning to get it back in order,” said Lipe.

“We’re hoping that this will be a shot in the arm to the community to come forward to revive their COPS shop. The women that are working there, some with disabilities, are doing what they can to keep the shop doors open for the rest of the community. It’s time that they’ve had some help,” said Marilyn Saunders, director of Spokane COPS.

Saunders said that extensive training for front desk people, including computer training and problem solving, is planned for this year.

“With the limited services and prosecution abilities of our police department and our justice system, we’re looking at increased property crime coming our way. With that, people are probably going to see, depending on what ZIP code they live in, their insurance going up because of the amount of property crime that people make claims on.

“We’re trying to problem-solve better and resource better. We need people to come forward to help us so we can help each other. It’s neighbor to neighbor,” said Saunders.