Spokane police officers are ramping up their citations – not for crimes, but acts of kindness

Ed Richardson is one of the only cops in Spokane a teenager wouldn’t run from. At least, that’s what some of his TikTok following thinks.

“I got some street cred,” Richardson said.

It’s why he was picked to be one of 10 Spokane police officers to hand out “Kindness Citations,” or tickets to recognize random acts of kindness in the community.

Richardson, or “Big Ed,” as people around the city call the 6-foot -7 reserve officer, has spent the last six years capturing the trust of some of Spokane’s rougher neighborhoods. He has successfully worked to make inroads with a lot of kids who have poor home lives, don’t show up to school or are in and out of shelters. He’s also amassed more than 30,000 followers on TikTok, with millions of views on his videos and hundreds of comments – some of them from people who recognize Richardson and call him “the only cop in Spokane I wouldn’t run from” and “the best.”

“We put this uniform on, and some think we become different people,” Richardson said. “I always say I don’t let the uniform change me. I’m still gonna be that same person who shows compassion.”

Kindness 911, a nonprofit that partners with law enforcement agencies to spread good will, worked with the Spokane Police Department this month to achieve the same goal. The organization is partnering with 18 agencies throughout Washington, Oregon and Virginia, according to a news release.

How it works is simple: If an officer who holds the card notices someone doing something selfless, they’ll “cite” the person for an act of kindness, complete with a citation number. That person will go onto the nonprofit’s website and enter their citation number with some additional information. Kindness 911 will feature the act on their Facebook page, but also make a donation to a charity on the person’s behalf, the nonprofit’s website said.

Some of those charities that work with Kindness 911 are food banks, teaching organizations, the Ronald McDonald House, the Special Olympics and a trauma intervention program.

Spokane’s police department already has issued several “citations,” some being from Richardson and some from other officers featured on the Facebook page. Richardson has issued two so far, he said: one for Spokane’s Martin Luther King Center director Freda Gandy for her work during Juneteenth and another for a group of women who brought sandwiches to feed the department.

That’s only the start, though. The citation is just another method to engage with everyone in the community in a positive way, he said.

“This is the icebreaker, right?” Richardson said. “I am here to help you. Not here to consequence.”

Richardson is also no stranger to handing out small trinkets for positive behavior. For six years, he’s been giving coins to kids – but not just any coin. It’s a wooden coin inscribed with a cartoon rendition of Richardson’s face with the words, “A little progress each day adds up to big results.”

“I see kids struggling because I work with a lot of young people. They get down and might just give up,” he said. “That’s why I feel that, little by little, progress as each day goes on adds up to big results.”

Richardson grew up on the south side of Chicago. In Spokane, he spent decades working with youth and then working in schools. The experience gives him a different type of ability: to connect with the youth he encounters while patrolling neighborhoods as a reserve officer. It’s worked so well that kids will approach him and tell him how well they’re doing in school or that they received a good grade on a test.

It’s a direct result of what community policing can do, he said. It’s why Spokane has resource officers assigned to a specific neighborhood so they can build a rapport with those who live there. In turn, people feel more inclined to call the officer they trust if something goes wrong, effectively deterring crime, according to Officer Deanna Storch. Storch told The Spokesman-Review in March, when the resource program was brought back after a hiatus, that problem spots tend to fester when officers aren’t in the area to help.

Dialogue officers, who are also meant to connect with residents, are assigned to a protest or demonstration to communicate with the organizers and make sure people are staying safe and properly exercising their First Amendment rights. Chief Kevin Hall kick-started the officers’ dialogue training in March, according to previous reporting from The Spokesman-Review.

All are meant to engage with people in a deeper way to build connections and pathways for people to feel safe and comfortable talking to police, Richardson said. But lately, he added, it sometimes feels as if trust in police is again eroding as more protesters clash with law enforcement .

“That (trust) barrier is still going to be there; we try to bring it down. There’s a lot of events going on in the world that’s making the barrier go back up again,” Richardson said. “We got to a point where people were trusting law enforcement, and now we are to a point where we could be starting over.”

But breaking barriers isn’t that difficult for Richardson when he has such a passion for the job. He felt he wanted to go above and beyond to serve his community, he said, so that’s exactly what he did.

“I am fortunate enough where I have a voice at the table,” he said. “I love this community, and I want people to know I care. That is why I try to show my face everywhere.”