Mission COPS holds grand opening

Thu., March 13, 2008

By Lisa Leinberger lisal@spokesman.com (509) 459-5449

Hundreds of people packed the hallway last week at the grand opening of Mission COPS, the 13th COPS Shop in Spokane.

“This is a very auspicious occasion for us,” said Joe Dunlap, president of Spokane Community College, where the new shop now resides.

The shop is a group effort between Spokane COPS, the Spokane Police Department, the Department of Corrections and the college. Officials believe it is the only one of its kind in the country, since it is part of the school.

The shop, at 1810 N. Greene St., Building 1, Room 149, is a resource for neighbors and students who need help solving problems in their communities.

“This is all about relationships,” said Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick. “Spokane is the leading city with the COPS Shops. Everyone looks to Spokane to see how to do it right.”

The neighborhood resource officer assigned to the shop is Shanie Redmon. She said that she is excited about the opening of the shop, since through her work with the East Central COPS shop, she really didn’t have a lot of information about what was going on in the Chief Garry and Minnehaha neighborhoods. Until now, folks had to either go to East Central, the Logan COPS Shop, or north to the Northeast COPS Shop.

Mission COPS is already recruiting and training volunteers to man the phones and provide information about the many programs COPS – Community Oriented Policing Services – offers to the community.

Chris Duclose is one of those volunteers who is going through the training. She is glad the shop opened since she didn’t feel like she had a place to go to report about noisy neighbors or abandoned cars or any of the other many problems neighborhoods face.

“We need protection for our elderly, our children and grandchildren,” she said.

“This is really something special,” said Eldon Vail, secretary of the Washington Department of Corrections.

The shop will be manned with parole officers for parolees who live in the neighborhood or attend the school. The officers will be able to perform urine tests and make sure the parolees are staying out of trouble and looking toward building a positive future.

The shop will also serve as a place for criminal justice students at the school to learn about neighborhood policing and to volunteer.

The celebration, which included cake and coffee, also included speakers Christy Hamilton, COPS director, Joe Shogan, the city council president, and stepping in for Mayor Mary Verner, who was unable to attend, was Ted Danek, the Spokane city administrator.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.