When weekly police reports for Medical Lake arrive from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office they run the gamut from response to alarms to traffic stops and dozens of other interactions.
While the reports offer specific addresses, the Cheney Free Press identifies these instances simply by the block on which they occurred.
Most are simple blips on the law enforcement radar, so-to-speak.
But each week there are others that resemble a massive storm system with addresses that repeat themselves like claps of thunder and bolts of lightning.
SCSO spokesperson, Deputy Mark Gregory, looked at some of the addresses and was able to shine light into why certain ones occur repeatedly in the police reports. While Medical Lake residents likely know these well, others may wonder what’s up with the “repeat offenders.”
Reports from the 1300 block of Lefevre Street come with regularity and belong to Waterfront Park in Medical Lake.
Examining the nature of the calls, Gregory pulled up further details over the previous two weeks out of a fairly complex database. “It looks like there was an animal call, a child missing, a ‘walk’ which means they went and kind of patrolled through there,” Gregory said.
The list went on to include traffic stops, medics, prowl checks and drugs. “Just kinda’ of normal people calls,” Gregory said.
The 14000 block of West Fancher Road has regular attention from patrol deputies. That is the boat ramp at West Medical Lake, Gregory explained.
Other regular calls include the 800 block of Maple Street which is the home of Eastern State Hospital. That address generates a number of assault calls, which Gregory said also need further explanation.
“First of all, it’s what it is (initially) reported as,” Gregory explained. “If it’s reported as an argument and it’s an assault we’ll change it to an assault.”
Or if it’s the other way around, and comes to responding deputies as an assault and it’s actually an argument, the final report would be changed.
“It (assault) could be anything from spitting on somebody to bumping them,” to even using some type of a weapon like a stick, he said.
The reports that are issued to city officials and the media are simple Excel spreadsheets that provide a snapshot of patrol activity for the Sherriff’s Office, the agency that contracts with Medical Lake — along with other municipalities like Spokane Valley and Deer Park — to cover their needs of law enforcement for their citizens.
The reports are full of various shorthand and abbreviations. What is provided simply scratches the surface of incidents, but Gregory can, if he’s not tending to multiple other media and department duties, drill into the data.
The reference “CFS” represents a call for service that Gregory explained was simply having a deputy go to a specific address, but not make an official report.
Any indication of a report means there was a crime committed or potential for a crime, Gregory said.
Gregory further explained prowl checks, which tend to populate the logs each week. Those are entered to document patrol routes showing that deputies were in fact out in the community. These entries tell supervisors what was done during a specific segment of a shift.
On a busy weekend the log will show a number of missing children, fights and concerns over alcohol to name a few.
And in the end, the data collected is sent to the FBI to provide a snapshot of crime in a given area, hopefully allowing for better use of resources.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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