SPOKANE-- Officers in Spokane are feeling the loss of the four Western Washington officers gunned down Sunday morning.
Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick knew one of the fallen officers and now she is offering her department’s help.
The names of the officers killed will be added to the memorial outside the Spokane courthouse in May. What’s hard for those in the law enforcement community to see is all four of those names added at once.
Chief Anne Kirkpatrick says her Sunday started like any other, by reading the paper online. But that’s how she learned four police officers in Lakewood had been shot and killed.
Soon after she received a phone call from Tiffiny Ryan, a police records specialist, and Tina Griswold’s sister. Chief Kirkpatrick spent Sunday night visiting the Griswold family. She says by being there with the family she is an extended arm of the Lakewood police chief who couldn’t be there.
Chief Kirkpatrick says she was Griswold’s sergeant at the police academy 14 years ago and trained her in criminal procedures. Now Kirkpatrick says she is offering the SWAT and K-9 teams her chaplains and officers, any support agencies the west side needs. Kirkpatrick says even if her department isn’t used during the investigation, she, the Honor Guard, and her officers will be at the memorial service, which may have to be held at the Tacoma Dome to accommodate everyone.
