|
C.O.P.S. Events
Spokane's
Annual Night Out Against Crime 2007
C.O.P.S. Annual Volunteer Dinner
C.O.P.S. Annual Tea Party for Volunteers
Recap of 2007 National Night Out Against
Crime (NNO)
On behalf of Spokane C.O.P.S., I would like to
express our great appreciation to the National Association of Town Watch for the
privilege of presenting the 24th National Night Out Event for the City of
Spokane, Washington. Spokane C.O.P.S. is proud to sponsor this important event
and the opportunity it provides for increasing public awareness about available
community policing partnerships.
Once again, National Night Out Against Crime (NNO)
was a huge success! We began this year’s event with our 8th Annual Crime
Prevention Kick-Off Rally in downtown Spokane’s picturesque Riverfront Park held
Monday, August 6, 2007. We hold the Kick-Off event on the day before National
Night Out in an effort to provide a last chance opportunity for the community to
register their parties, to make that ever-important connection with the
community. We also offer free exhibit space at the Kick-Off event to non-profit
organizations. As a non-profit ourselves, we know the frustration of limited
financial resources to market our programs. This is Spokane C.O.P.S. way to
“pay it forward” to these organizations for their valued partnership over the
years with C.O.P.S., and to help them get their message out to the community.
We received 4 more registrations from this event.
There was the usual July 4th party in the West Central area that had
a turnout of over 400 people, 107 parties on the evening of the 7th
and 3 held on other dates within the month of August. The grand total of
registered parties was 110; only 28 parties less than 2006 NNO, but an estimated
6,000 citizens participated. We had 9 apartment complexes participate this year,
all of which are members of Spokane’s Crime Free Multi-Housing Program (CFMH).
We had 2 churches participate, 1 community center, 2 businesses, 1 of Spokane’s
local hospitals, and Spokane Police Department’s new Police Substation in the
downtown core. The East Sprague Businessmen’s Association organized another
very successful party including participation from about 23 businesses. These
businesses comprise our first Business Watch group for the city.
For TV coverage, we worked out a tremendous price
for completely reshooting our Spokane C.O.P.S. 30-second PSA; which included 4
separate topics that were all shown with a crawl message about National Night,
day/time, and where to register for a party and get more information. We
negotiated 90 spots to run during prime morning and evening times through the
end of 2007. The spots started on July 1st with the NNO crawl and
continued through the evening of Night Out. Press releases were put out to the
media by Spokane C.O.P.S. main office and, in addition, included on the C.O.P.S.
website. As a result of our press release, each of our 6 major networks, 4-5
radio stations, Spokane’s largest daily newspaper, community center newspapers,
and community calendars supported our NNO event. Print and website advertising
was good as well. We had a few very good articles in our local Spokesman Review
newspaper; the Inland Northwest Rental Review, Better Business Bureau, West
Central and Northeast Community Centers newspapers; as well as the weekly
website for the city of Spokane and Spokane C.O.P.S. website.
This year Law Enforcement, City Officials, and
select crime prevention groups in Spokane are focusing on promotion of our Crime
Reporting Center and the use of 911. Our old Crime Check system was replaced in
2005 with the Crime Reporting Center. This was a complete shock to the
community’s system, as citizens have relied on Crime Check and had the number
memorized since it’s inception in the 60’s. The awareness of the new system is
still alarmingly low. Because the emphasis on Crime Reporting Center awareness
is so centered this year throughout the city, Spokane C.O.P.S. developed our NNO
theme around the use of resources for reporting crime. We provided the first
200 registered parties with promotional items, educational material, and a
full-color, 18”x24” yard sign promoting NNO on one side and Block Watch on the
other. We handed out pocket-sized, bright yellow cards by the hundreds with the
Crime Reporting Center number and website, along with the new Law Enforcement
Help Line number. These cards were extremely well received by the citizens.
NNO Kick-Off Rally
at Riverfront Park, Downtown Spokane
At the Kick-Off Rally, we had 21 informational
booths and vehicles, including SPD Traffic Unit, SPD’s Canine Unit with
“HERO” (the canine), SPD Bomb Rescue Vehicle and ANDROS the Bomb Robot,
Salvation Army Mobile Van, 16 city organizations and the North Hill C.O.P.S.
mobile unit.
Again this year’s Kick-Off Rally was an
excellent informational/educational resource fair. We mailed out 30
invitations to city and non-profit organizations to offer a free table/booth
display during the 3-hour Rally. The premise for the invites was two-fold:
to help these organizations promote their community-oriented services to
Rally participants, plus present an outstanding method for interacting with
community in an effort to keep C.O.P.S. in the public eye.
McGruff joined us for an hour or so. Of course,
he has a major hit! He was able to spend a sizeable amount of time at the
park Rally rubbing elbows with lots of kids, parents, SPD, and all the
exhibitors. As always, McGruff was a big hit with the kids!
Spokane has only 3 McGruff characters to cover
the entire city of 200,000+ for NNO. Of the 134 registered NNO parties,
there were 48 requests for visits from McGruff! He’s a very popular
fellow!
This is what our exhibitors had to say of their
experience at the Spokane Night Out Kick-Off Rally for 2007:
I thought it was a very worthwhile event and
I look forward to participating in it again next year. It provided us an
opportunity to reach some folks who we may not normally meet at other
events. I also liked having the opportunity to participate in a law
enforcement sponsored event as I believe substance abuse prevention shares
many of the same objectives with law enforcement especially when it comes to
creating a safer environment for youth. Alan Zeuge, MPA, CPP
Thank you for letting SA be apart of this
event again this year. There are not many free events I can participate
in...and I do appreciate that. Services Alternatives
Thanks again for sponsoring this event. I did
meet more than a few people that were interested in our service, which is
great! I enjoyed the day in the park and would do this again next year.
One Stop Housing
Most people were thankful for the water we
provided and were interested in hearing about our programs. All in all, it
was just nice to be in the public eye. Salvation Army
Thanks for the invite. It was a great day
for an outside event, lots of exhibitors, a large audience, and next year I
would like to participate again. Attorney General’s Office
Thank you for the chance to participate!
We'd be happy to participate again next year!
Inland Northwest Blood Bank
Nine (9) of our larger parties covering every
corner of Spokane received an NNO banner for their party on the 7th,
and 11 ½-sheet cakes that Spokane C.O.P.S. provided.
C.O.P.S. North Central continued their
successful, ever-growing party with over 300 in attendance at Emerson
Park. In addition to providing Operation Family I.D. by taking
fingerprints and photos of the children, the volunteers supported the Safe
Kids program by registering numerous bicycles.
As usual, we had 2 churches participate both
in the Northeast/Minnehaha area. Visitors included many neighbors, the
mayor, police, and city council reps. Both party coordinators were
immensely pleased with the turnout, the special visitors, and general crime
prevention discussions. We consider both churches as valued partners with
Spokane C.O.P.S.
We are opening our 13th C.O.P.S.
Substation, Mission Avenue C.O.P.S., on the Spokane Community College campus
in the Minnehaha/Chief Garry neighborhoods in 2007.
We have had numerous meetings with the college, neighborhood councils and
citizens to determine their main concerns and “wish lists” for a new
C.O.P.S. Substation. As a result of these meetings, 11 parties were
attended by representatives of Mission Avenue C.O.P.S. to help promote the
new facility and get volunteers from those neighborhoods. Both
neighborhoods and college reps. are very excited (as are the new substation
volunteers) to have the shop open in their area. Although the new shop
representatives are still “wet behind the ears”, they were able to answer a
myriad of questions posed by the party participants, and to give an insight
to this transition. The citizens were all intrigued with the idea that the
college full-time and student campus security will be sharing the same space
as the C.O.P.S. Substation.
We had 40 new party registrations this year. One
of those in our lower south hill historic area started out with the
establishment of 13 Block Watches. These Watch Representatives met with the
Historic Cannon Hill Steering Committee and started planning their NNO
party. The plans started out with expecting about 50 people, then within 3
weeks escalated to 300+! They had live music, activities for kids, street
closure where tables were lined up to hold tons of potluck food, visits from
many officials, McGruff, etc. This NNO party has created a very cohesive
neighborhood that plans to have quarterly gatherings for updates and just to
touch base.
The Spokane Police Department (SPD), Spokane
Fire Department (SFD), Mayor and City Council, Department of Corrections
(D.O.C.), C.O.P.S. Staff and C.O.P.S. Volunteers set out the evening of the
7th to visit NNO parties all over town. It was an exciting and
very productive evening.
top of page
C.O.P.S. Volunteer Dinner
It is undeniable that our
volunteers are the life blood of Spokane C.O.P.S., and provide a truly intricate
piece of the crime prevention puzzle by being the "eyes and ears" for the
police. As the main cog in the resource wheel for the community, our volunteers
continually and successfully help lighten the load for law enforcement by
fielding calls that would normally take a huge amount of time from our officers.
On October 25th, the Faith Bible Church was invaded by Spokane
C.O.P.S. volunteers, dignitaries and guests with one common goal: to honor
C.O.P.S. volunteers for their tireless efforts in supporting Community Oriented
Policing in their neighborhoods.
The evening began with the Spokane Police Department Honor Guard
(Officer’s Tilley, Redmon, Downing, and Draper) presenting colors. Officer
Barkley sang the National Anthem and Chaplain Ron Alter led the benediction. A
huge thanks to all of you for helping support our event.
This year, we had special Leadership Awards presented to four
volunteers that went “above and beyond the call of duty” to save their shops
from certain extinction. Heather Lundy & Mary Fryback from C.O.P.S. West, and
Barbara Hedlund & Patricia Schilling from C.O.P.S. Neva-Wood put in many hours
to overcome major obstacles in the day-to-day operation of their shops. Because
of their efforts, both shops are thriving with new volunteers and a renewed
sense of purpose. All four ladies received a beautifully framed Leadership
Certificate.
Attendance this year was exceptional; including, Chief Anne
Kirkpatrick, Mayor Dennis Hession, Council President Joe Shogan, City Council
Members, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, Spokane C.O.P.S. Board Members, SPD NROs,
Major Gill Moberly, Sgt. Dennis Walter, our partners with Department of
Corrections, C.O.P.S. partners and trainers, volunteers and many more.
A sincere thanks to all our volunteers and partners for your
continued support of Spokane C.O.P.S. It takes an army of people to make
Community Oriented Policing work, and because Spokane cares, we are successful
beyond our dreams!
The City of Spokane presented
two major awards this evening.
-
Outstanding Leadership Award
Cliff
Drake, C.O.P.S. North Central
-
Outstanding Citizenship Award
Bob Armstrong, C.O.P.S. Downtown
top of page
Spokane
C.O.P.S. Annual Tea Parties
Proper English Tea Party, 2000
We spent about 10-15 minutes just spreading rumors
and visiting. Then we talked candidly about gossip and the real destruction
it does. We talked about a few examples of information necessary to share for
safety and the stuff that just hurts people and is not important to accomplish
the task we must do for the community. We then talked about proper table
placement, time of day for English tea, types of teas, holding ones pinky out.
The moral of this information was a reminder to be polite to each other and to
make it a ‘tradition.’
Mad
Hatter Tea Party, 2001
Alice In Wonderland video was
shown, hats like from the Boston tea party and other crazy hats
were worn by the participants, along with some rabbit ears and big cardboard watch
like the rabbit wore. Some staff
were dressed as Alice with blue dress and white
apron.
The C.O.P.S. Director was the bad Queen of Hearts…pinned
on a big playing
card front and back with make-up and stripped stockings.
We talked about stress, pressure of time; and
change (lots of changes in rules and procedures). We talked about how we handle
pressure and change.
Boston Tea Party,
2002
A story was read from the Internet
that was written by
an eyewitness at the Boston Tea party. Shared that early Americans could
portray Indians because the Mohawk Indians did not cut their hair at that time
in the typical ‘Mohawk’ style as prevalently as in later years. Only the ‘peace
makers’ cut their hair in that manner. We would term them as warriors but the
Indians termed the peacemakers.
We talked about why they volunteer and what they
get from their work. We then talked about the legacy of struggle and sacrifice
our ancestors gave us for the price they paid for our freedom. We must be
vigilant and not loose heart in what we do. Sometimes it seems very small and
insignificant.
The message we must continue to give by our example is to
maintain our standing as a good citizen.
Asian Tea Party,
2003
We had everyone take off their shoes at the door and
walk on paper, careful not to tear it. Most of our volunteers could not sit on
the floor, so we just sat at the table as usual. Oriental
Trading Company was a
great source for all our items for decorating and giving aways.
We went to an Oriental grocery store and got some Asian printed items. We went around
the room and, when the volunteers said their name, they also had to name an Asian county.
We
had a map going around at the same time, so if they couldn’t think of one, they
could look at it for help. Some didn’t look and just guessed; sometimes it was
not an Asian county. (ha!) It helped us to look at its' vast area and many
countries that had mixed traditions. We talked about
our neighborhood
differences and that we could not begin to stereotype anyone else because of
the differences we have in our own small country.
Asians have some many more
variations.
Russian Tea Party,
2004
Lots of traditional Russian foods from
a local store were served. We
learned many cultural differences and showed some Russian tea items on the big screen
of things on the Internet.
We found pictures of some of the things that could not
be purchased locally, but wanted to show them. Also
shown was the website where they did not have
the long dresses and shawls, so they would know that not ALL Russians dressed
the same. They are very sophisticated about tea and teatime. We had black bread and salt on a tray with staff in
the hall to greet arrivals. This is old tradition that represents ‘we don’t
have much, but what we do have, you are welcome to’. This
can be something that
one may encounter if you go to visit an elder Russian if they greet you
outside. Typically, meetings are very structured and formal.
The teatime is the
time that conversation gets more personal and opinionated. Tea is usually about
3-5 p.m., with dinner about 7-8 p.m. Often going into evening with the tea, it
would involve Cognac.
They often sweeten their tea with preserves, so we
had jelly available to try. They have Samovars for making tea. It is a very
elaborate tea maker with water in the bottom and tea concentrate in the top.
Their pastries are not sweet. Even their chocolate candy is not as sweet as
ours. Bread is at every meal. We selected several items made at the Russian
store to serve and raffled off lots of other items we purchased at the same
store that were packaged with Russian on the wrappers. We looked at the size of
the country, history and why we have some many
Russian immigrants in our community today.
Hispanic Tea
Party, 2005
We learned that, like the
Asians, when you are talking cultures, there are many variations of Hispanic
traditions and cultures. Volunteers brought their favoritekHispanic dish. Some
were from Brazil, Spain and Mexico. We visited a local Mexican store and bought
most everything that wasn’t familiar to us. There were dried and canned fruits,
as well as many other snack foods and candy treats. We played Mexican
Mariachi music and gave away the tape as a prize. Most of the decorations were purchased
from the Oriental Trading Company magazine or from the local Hispanic store.
Amish
Tea Party, 2006
While we may not run into
very many Amish in Spokane it was just another opportunity to learn about a
large group of American Citizens that help to make up these United States.
Former Director, Marilyn Saunders’ father was raised
Amish and she wanted to share some
of her heritage and knowledge of this religious group before she left us.
Spearmint, Peppermint and Sassafras teas are the most used for all-season
refreshment. Some real staples of traditional type food is homemade noodles,
plain or with chicken or beef. Homemade bread and butter is another. The most
common desserts are whoopy-pies, sugar cookies, graham cracker fluff, shoofly
pie and old-fashioned cream pie.
Amish are known for their
simple way of life and not having electricity. They all still drive horse and
buggies, but will often hire drivers for long distance travel. They wear only
sold color clothing, with the women’s dresses held together with only straight
pins. They do not pay into our social security system, so in the event of
disabilities and retirement they help each other within their own family and
church district.
A couple of interesting notes, the Amish generally don’t use photos of people or
animals, as they believe these are graven images. And their dolls don’t have
faces for the same reason.
There is much more that
could be told about them, but we won’t take up space here for all the history and
personal stories that were shared at this tea. You are invited to join C.O.P.S.
and be a part of future teas!
top of page | 
