Center to recruit, educate

Mall welcomes police department store

By JOE RUIZ
jruiz@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8262

When the brown paper is pulled from the glass at Sunset Mall's latest storefront today, a number of officers will be on hand as the proprietors slide the doors open.

That's because the storefront belongs to the San Angelo Police Department.

The SAPD Recruiting and Community Services center will open across the way from the U.S. Air Force recruiting center and the Dillard's men's store.

Sgt. Marcus Hooker, along with officers Tim Coffman and Jill Sanders of the department's community services team, wanted to have a facility like this.

The SAPD had been mulling the idea for about 10 or 11 years, Hooker said.

''The benefit for us is constant exposure to the public as far as the different types of programs we offer,'' the 18-year police veteran said. ''More people pass by here than they do at the Community Services building.''

Brochures about various programs the department offers as well as information about crime prevention line the walls.

The store is not necessarily designed to serve as a substation, he said, but he hopes it eventually will serve as a facility for officers to perform some standard duties, such as taking reports of crimes or responding to calls if something happens inside the mall.

For a department on a tight budget, the storefront wasn't the original plan. When serious discussion started at the beginning of the year, the police were expecting to have a vendor cart in the middle of the mall that could be staffed occasionally. The mall's management, though, had seen a police presence in other shopping centers be successful.

''We wanted something that was for public service,'' said John Rowland, Sunset Mall's general manager. ''We thought this would be a great opportunity to do something for the city and at the same time allow the city to have something to serve the community in this part of town.''

Rowland said a similar facility was a big success at an Atlanta mall he managed. The mall had a space not designed for retail use; it was donated to the county law enforcement, Rowland said. The department was able to create a substation in the space and extend its reach into the community, he said.

The Sunset Mall ownership decided to donate the space to the Police Department, he said, while SAPD will pay the utility bills.

With the department's presence at the mall, people won't have to make the trek to the downtown offices for materials that will be available at the new office, Hooker said.

In the front window, two police uniforms sit on half-torso mannequins. On the right is the current SAPD uniform and the other is the older brown uniform, complete with an old SAPD patch and badge.

While the storefront will not have wares for sale, it will serve as more than a community education facility. The SAPD wants to have its own recruiting presence, just as the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps do, with its own storefronts inside the mall.

''What this will do for us is this will put us in the same area so when individuals come to look at the military for a possible career choice, they'll look at us as well,'' Hooker said.

Police recruiting numbers are down across the state and the nation, said Coffman.

The department currently is short a few officers, said Morgan Trainer, a budget analyst with the SAPD, but the number has become smaller since Police Chief Tim Vasquez was sworn in at the end of June 2004.

The office has two televisions that Hooker hopes will play educational videos on a continuous loop, but said he'd be happy to play a specific one for people who walk in.

At midday on Friday, something's missing, though.

''We don't have any seating,'' Hooker said. ''Don't be surprised if you see me bring in my lounge chair tomorrow.''

The area should have regular seating quickly - Hooker said he was waiting on a purchase order to go through. Having removable seating, as well as a projection screen, is going to be important for the new center. Once the dust settles, the community service team wants to hold seminars for the public and for the mall's retailers, especially as the Christmas shopping season approaches.

Hooker said the inside of the store, which previously housed Cellular One, used to have red, yellow and black paint on its walls. That wasn't going to work for the community services team.

The walls, trim and center divider are painted in the red, silver and blue of the SAPD, Hooker said as he pointed the colors out on his patch. The team put in many hours to complete the transition from a cell phone store to the SAPD office.

Coffman's father, as well as other members of the officers' families, pitched in labor, too.

''It shows that it's not just the officers that have a big interest in this, but our families are also excited about what we're trying to do in the community,'' the younger Coffman said.