CPD focuses on parking, balancing budget

Monthly Accountablility Reviews for September and October show decrease in service calls over last year

By BECKY THOMAS

Staff Reporter

A decrease in calls for service and increases in parking and traffic enforcement highlighted the September and October editions of the Cheney Police Department's Monthly Accountability Reviews.

Calls for service are down by 25 percent so far in 2009 compared to last year. While there were 8,255 calls by October 2008, there were just 6,193 by October 2009. The number of reports generated from calls is down only slightly this year, which means the percentage of reports is up overall.

“That gap is closing,” Cheney Police Cmdr. Rick Campbell said. “I'm not sure what that trend is meaning except that the community itself may be handling more issues amongst themselves through our Block Watch programs and stuff.”

Traffic and parking enforcement rose dramatically through September and October, which Campbell attributed in part to the influx of college students returning to Eastern Washington University.

Campbell said parking enforcement has been a focus for the Police Department this year. He said establishing a routine, fair parking patrol would help educate the public.

“My hope is that come the winter, I'm not going to have to tow and impound a bunch of cars because people are just in the habit of dealing with their cars,” he said.

Campbell said the department's investigations are becoming more streamlined after a revamp of the system this year.

“What we found at the beginning of the year was that our detective was carrying an ungodly amount of cases,” he said; over 100 open cases were pending investigation early this year.

A goal of 30-40 open cases per month has not yet been reached—there were 52 open cases at the end of September and 48 at the end of October— but Campbell said he was happy with the progress, which he attributed to a reorganized system that allows Lt. Dave Mather to spend more time on investigations as well as the help of reserve officer Vertie Brown.

The department will likely end the year under budget. The maintenance budget went over by 8 percent in October due to unexpected costs early in the year. Campbell said the January snowstorm brought expenses in the form of roof shoveling and damage to the building.

An air cooling unit was installed in the office of communications director Cathy Munoz to help manage the heat produced by her computer, which was also unexpected.

“We've been able to absorb that overage by cutting back on some of the things we would have done this year,” Campbell said. Planned projects including painting and minor repairs to facilities were postponed.

Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].