Caring officer helps citizen

It seems the only things reported about local law enforcement are when they do something wrong. My personal contacts with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Valley Police Department have overwhelmingly shown them to be caring and professional.

Take my most recent experience. I was awakened by the doorbell. It was an officer from the Spokane Valley PD. Unfortunately, without my glasses on I could not see his name but he said he drives through the neighborhood all the time. He knew that I did not normally leave my garage door open, but it was open now.

Two things impressed me about this contact. The first was that although both the police department and Sheriff’s Office are extremely understaffed, this officer was professional enough to recognize something different at one house out of hundreds. The second thing was that he was professional enough, and cared enough, to take the time to stop and tell me about it.

Nobody would have given it a second thought if they had seen him just drive on by, waiting for his next emergency call.

So I hope that The Spokesman-Review will take this opportunity to print this letter in recognition of a job well done.

Jim Sjothun

Spokane Valley