Soap Lake opts to rebuild police department

SOAP LAKE - Soap Lake council members chose to refurbish the city's police department rather than explore the option of hiring an outside law enforcement agency.

The decision took place at last Wednesday's council meeting after several residents spoke in support of rebuilding the city police force instead of entering into a contract with either the Ephrata Police Department or the Grant County Sheriff's Office.

Promising to keep the process as transparent as possible, Mayor Raymond Gravelle opened the floor to public comments on the issue, but asked people to stay away from the topic of past police performance. He was referring to a recent investigation that found several problems with the SLPD - including improper evidence handling, officer training and integrity issues - under the command of Jim Dorris, who resigned as chief for health reasons last month.

Longtime resident Burr Beckwith said he supported the idea of inviting Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones and Ephrata Police Chief Mike Warren to give presentations on what contracted services could mean to Soap Lake.

"I think it's time to open up and see what other options are available," he said, adding people will have to remain patient through the process. "It's not like there's a real easy fix."

But Soap Lake provisional officer Rowdy Yates cautioned that abandoning the city's decades-old police force would be an irreversible decision, and urged people to instead help the department improve.

"This is our time to get new people in there to strengthen our department," he said. "As a community we all need to come together as one and fix it."

Reserve officer Justin Rowland also supported keeping a city-run department. He pointed out that 10 years ago, the city decided it would be more cost effective to contract ambulance services rather than maintain their own.

"Response times went from 5 to 10 minutes to 15 to 30," said Rowland, who is also a county dispatcher.

"It gives me a very comfortable feeling to see these police officers driving by our house on a daily basis," said resident Bob Hale. "The response times that we get from them are very good compared with having others cover us."

Soap Lake business owner Gary Gregg said he'd rather see the city contract services.

"With all due respect to our current police officers, we have a police force right now that isn't working," he said. "It may be an unpopular point of view, but as a business owner, it is not working and from the comments I hear from people who come into my store it is not working."

Gravelle said Soap Lake has a budget of $347,000 that barely covers the cost of "basic, essential police services." For instance, purchasing new tires for one patrol car recently nearly ate up the department's entire vehicle budget for the year, he said.

Adding to the challenge of rebuilding the SLPD, Gravelle said the city offers one of the lowest pay scales in the county and has to overcome a damaged reputation.

"(Grant County Prosecutor Angus) Lee has said that the issues in our police department go very, very deep and have a long history," Gravelle said. "He feels that if there were any future cases that were to go to trial and there were jurors selected, that they would be biased against Soap Lake and any efforts to prosecute would be seriously compromised because of the history of our police department."

All council members expressed favor for keeping the city's own force, and John Glassco was ultimately the only councilmember who voted in favor of getting more information on contracting.

"I'm not interested in other options," said Councilwoman Crystal Lindgren. "We have a real opportunity here to build a police force with integrity, which I know our officers want also. They want to be respected and well thought of."

"We're looking at a new time, a new group of people, a new everything," said Councilman John Hillman. "I think we've got to discard what's happened in the past and look to the future."

City Attorney Katherine Kenison also argued against contracting services, saying the city would have far less control and would probably not see much cost savings. She said it is possible to have a credible police department in a city of Soap Lake's size.

"That you don't have one right now, I would encourage you not to destroy all hope of restoring a police department and I think that you can," she said. "If you have the desire, I think that the credibility of your department can be restored and I think that would alleviate the concerns that prosecutor Lee has."

Also discussed at last week's council meeting was the city's new COP (Citizen on Patrol) program, which Gravelle said is lacking volunteers. Just three people have submitted applications to serve in the neighborhood watch program.

"I'm surprised that more citizens have not stepped forward to help fight crime in Soap Lake," said Gravelle, who was backed up by Councilwoman Kandis Lair in urging more resident involvement in COP to aid the city's struggling police department.

"If you want to be safe, you have to volunteer," Lair said. "We're going to have to help ourselves just like they did in the old days. We are Soap Lake, we are a community, and we have to work together."