Snow helps put police hot on trail of criminals

Fresh snow is more than an appealing white blanket on a dusty city.

It’s turning out to be an effective crime-fighting tool, too.

Footprints in the newly fallen powder early Thursday led authorities to a car thief and have helped steer police to other crime suspects, as well.

“It makes it real easy for us,” said Spokane police Officer Teresa Fuller.

In the latest case, police followed shoe prints on Spokane’s North Side for several blocks early Thursday. The tracks led from one stolen car to where another had been stolen, said Officer Shawn Pegram. Officer Paul Buchmann recovered three stolen vehicles and arrested a suspect.

“It happens every year,” Cpl. Tom Lee said of the snow’s help.

Following fresh-packed shoe prints is much quicker than dusting for fingerprints.

This time of year, vehicle thefts are high, police said. Since Monday, 42 vehicles have been stolen in the city, at least seven of which had been left with engines running to warm up.

While the fresh snow helped with the arrest of one suspected car thief, effective police work resulted in two additional car theft suspects being booked into Spokane County Jail on Thursday.

“The rate of recidivism is high, with a relatively small number of suspects committing a large proportion of the thefts,” Pegram said. “Taking a few of these suspects off the street can make a large impact in the number of vehicles being stolen.”

Following tracks also has helped Fuller and fellow officers catch vehicle prowlers.

“You can see the person’s tracks go from one car to another car and all the way back to their house,” Fuller said.

Are criminals usually so dim?

“When it comes to vehicle prowlings, it doesn’t surprise me,” Fuller said. “So much of it is methamphetamine driven, and they’ve only got one thing on their mind.”

Snow has been credited with helping to solve at least one burglary in past years.

“You could see the man’s footprints up to the back window, where he’d broken into the home, and then right back to his home, which was about two houses away,” Fuller said.

Especially with juvenile criminals, the snow crime-fighting tool has worked well. “Sometimes,” Fuller said, “it takes a couple times for them to realize how we are catching them.”