Community College Partnership a Success in Spokane

By Maria Peterson, East Team Leader, DOC Communications Office

Community Corrections Officer Trina Richardson, Spokane
Police Officer Dan Strassenberg and Community Corrections
Officer Doug Holland operate the Mission Avenue COPS
Shop on the Spokane Community College campus.

More than a year after the Mission Avenue COPS Shop opened its doors at Spokane Community College the unique program is proving to be as popular with DOC staff as it is with offender. The officers who work in the shop said they didn’t know exactly what to expect from the partnership between DOC, Spokane Police Department, Spokane Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the college.

“We have the responsibility of supervising offenders who are also students and that it taken into account when dealing with the violations of their supervision,” said Community Corrections Officer Trina Richardson. “We have been pretty creative with sanctions to keep offenders enrolled in their classes and still address behavior. We are also here for the community and student body at large and we try to strike a balance the best we can.”

COPS shops combine DOC’s neighborhood-based supervision of offenders with volunteers from Spokane COPS and officers from Spokane Police Department. The teams work in substations that are scattered throughout Spokane.

Richardson, who has worked at several other COPS Shops, says the Mission Avenue COPS Shop operates like no other. At Mission Avenue COPS, Richardson and Community Corrections Officer Doug Holland work with offenders who attend the college. They also have a traditional catchments area with offenders who are not enrolled but live near the college. They partner with the college security officers to provide general assistance and have responded with officers to security calls when asked to assist. The calls do not always involve DOC offenders. They also work with the volunteers to address community concerns and questions as they occur.

“We are in a unique setting in the world of community oriented policing, and frankly, we’re in the infancy of the full development of this partnership with the college security staff and Spokane Police,” said Holland. “It’s working well so far and I expect we will continue to improve as we become more defined in our individual and shared roles of responsibility at the school.”

The officers actively participate in classes in the Criminal Justice Department. They provide technical education to the students and offer a real-world perspective of law enforcement. This partnership has been a great success for the school according to the college’s security staff.

“The partnership has allowed given us a unique day to day collaboration that no other institute of high learning currently enjoys,” said Spokane Community College Security Officer Charles Hollen. “This collaboration allows DOC and SCC to address potentially confusing and frustrating issues in an efficient and professional manner.”

DOC is in the early stages of identifying other community colleges that might be interested in starting a similar partnership.

“This COPS shop has the potential to be a national model of state and local collaboration,” said Karen Daniels, Assistant Secretary for Community Corrections. “We’re working in true partnership to combat crime out on the streets and inside the walls of Spokane Community College.”

Richardson said that working closely with the college helped her develop better connections with some of the offenders on her caseload. She said one offender came out of prison and kept a job at a local restaurant. His employer worked with his class schedule which allowed him to maintain a 4.0 grade average while on supervision.

“I sent a copy of his grades to the judge,” she said. “He is off of supervision now and is doing extremely well in the community.”

The COPS Shop officers are preparing for the fall semester which begins September 21. This year there will be two new students, both are offenders who enrolled as a result of checking in at the campus office.

“Education is a powerful motivator for change. Just being in the school environment has motivated these two to go back to school. And that’s a very positive result from us being here,” Richardson said.

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