SCC Cop Shop First In US On College Campus

SPOKANE – Neighbors in east Spokane made a demand and now they got it, a cop shop of their own.

The Mission Avenue COPS substation is the first-ever cop shop on a college campus, as it is located at Spokane Community College. This coming at a time when shootings on college campuses have been making headlines time and time again.

This is in response to an increase in crime in the area. Car theft and graffiti is a problem on the SCC campus and in the surrounding neighborhood. It then works out perfectly to have a cop shop to increase security on campus as well as in the Chief Garry Park and Minnehaha neighborhoods.

Cop shops are run by volunteers. In this case, it is like no other. Students from SCC’s criminal justice department, who are going into law enforcement, will man it.

It is the 13th COPS substation in Spokane. COPS shops are the liaison between each community and the police department. It runs several crime prevention and education programs. In fact, the Block Watch program alone is said to reduce crime by 35 percent.

The nearest COPS shops before the Mission Avenue COPS shop opened were in the Logan neighborhood, where 600 calls were made in 2006, and in the Hillyard COPS shop, which received 2,500 calls in 2006.

Students who work as campus security officers say the COPS shop will help with their role in getting folks to report crimes when they happen.

“Our hopes about low crime on campus is that we feel we hope students will feel they can contact us when stuff happens,” says David Dunn, an SCC security officer.

More volunteers are needed at all the COPS shops in Spokane. If you’re interested, you can contact your local COPS shop for more information.