SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Police Department is sharing an early look into its plan to get more officers on the streets to tackle crimes.
In the meantime, the Spokane community is weighing in on that plan and how it can make the community safer.
Ben Osborne, manager of Zanies Smokeshop in Spokane's Emerson-Garfield neighborhood, wants his business to be a hometown shop.
"Zanies has always been what it is now," Osborne said. "It's open to everybody. It's a hippie shop."
But, he says the crime in this neighborhood makes it difficult to maintain that experience for customers. Amidst the vandalism, the drugs and the shootings near there, Osborne hopes for a better, safer community.
"The problem has become so enormous that I don't really know where they can start as far as fixing it," Osborne said.
"One of the things I've noticed is this increase in tension and willingness to resort to violence more quickly," Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said.
Meidl says an increase in calls and officer fatigue are the results of this trend. Because of this, the department wants to restructure its precincts and patrols. That means moving some of its current officers from other units to patrol the streets.
"The hope is, starting January, we'll have 40 more officers on patrol than what we currently have as well," Meidl said. "This is one of many layers that we're looking at to fix the crime issues that we have in Spokane. Having officers on the street that can respond more quickly to calls is one prong. But, there are so many layers to this."
Osborne welcomes the idea of seeing more officers around.
"When the presence is there, bad guys don't want to see the cops," Osborne said. "They're going the opposite direction."
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