Crime prevention takes teamwork

The message was clear at Wednesday’s City Forum: Crime prevention takes collaboration among the community, volunteers and the Police Department.

Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick and Crime Stoppers of the Inland Northwest President Pat DeVries spoke about the importance of being proactive and aware of all available tools when it comes to fighting crime.

“We are trying to bring Crime Check the phone number back,” said DeVries. “It took as many as 1,000 phone calls a day when it was up and running.”

In response to that, Kirkpatrick pointed out that having a person answer the phone all hours costs money, but if that’s a priority for the community she’ll do her best to find a way to make it happen.

“As a city we only have so many resources,” she said. “But if you want that service, it costs a real live body to be there.”

Crime Stoppers of the Inland Northwest is the new name for Crime Check, a volunteer crime prevention organization founded in 1968.

Though the name is just a few months old, programs like Secret Witness are familiar.

DeVries said Secret Witness – which pays rewards for anonymous tips that lead to crimes being solved – has been instrumental in solving murders, burglaries, drive-by shootings, rapes and other crimes since it was started in 1980.

“If you are a crook, you be careful who you tell what you are planning to do,” said DeVries. “If they get mad at you later, they’ll tell on you, and they’ll do so for fifty bucks.”

Crime Stoppers also takes crime tips online, where it posts photos of fugitives.

A member of the audience asked Kirkpatrick how she’d apply more resources to her police department, if she had them. At the top of her list is neighborhood policing, police officers in high schools and a detective to investigate elder-abuse cases.

“It shocks me that we can have a community of this size and have one officer assigned to our schools,” she said.

Kirkpatrick said there are now 50 recognized gangs in Spokane, with more than 900 known gang members.

“Gangs are here because we have guns and drugs – that’s the enterprise for gangs,” Kirkpatrick said. “We as a community need to address our young ones and give them hope and respect. That’s a matter of the heart. If they don’t get that at home, they’ll seek it in the pseudo-setting like a gang.”