What I found when we looked closer
Stevens County covers 2,541 square miles of northeastern Washington along the Canada–US border, with about 18 residents per square mile. The county seat is Colville, and the county includes most of the Spokane Indian Reservation, parts of the Colville National Forest, and part of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
In a county that large and that rural, deputies spend a lot of each shift driving between calls. Every hour spent on paperwork is an hour a deputy is not available across a very wide area, and cases can involve tribal, federal, and neighboring-county partners.
Following one report through the building
The first thing we do with a new department is trace where a report goes after the officer hits submit. Here, it passes through 4 hands:
- 1Deputy
- 2Sergeant
- 3Tribal, federal, or neighboring-county partners
- 4Court in Colville
Every one of those readers needs the same facts from the first draft. That is what shaped what we built.
What we built for them
Deputies spend much of a shift driving. A draft ready before they leave the scene turns windshield time back into patrol time.
Notes and photos captured in the field keep detail intact across long gaps between calls.
Cases can involve the Spokane Tribe, federal land managers, and neighboring counties. Searchable case context makes those questions faster to answer.
What we're watching
These are the signals that will tell us whether it's working here:
- Hours per week returned to patrol
- Reports finished before end of shift
- Turnaround on partner-agency requests
Figures on this page come from the department's own published materials. We only publish Code Four results after the department reviews them.
