Skip to main content Skip to navigation
CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

As Spokane beefs up efforts to catch car thieves, some — including prolific one who targets Subarus — won’t stop

In the time it takes to tidy your bed, floss your teeth or microwave a bowl of rice, 19-year-old Christian Normand can steal your car. If it’s an early-’90s-to-2000s Subaru, even better.

Since at least the year 2000, Spokane has consistently ranked as one of the worst cities in Washington for people hoping to permanently keep their cars in their driveway. For several years it even ranked in the top 15 cities in the United States in terms of vehicle theft rate.

David Makin
Makin

“I think by and large, most of the arguments around Spokane are joyriding, addiction, and you have those chronic offenders,” said David Makin, a professor of criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University. “But I think there’s still a lot of unknowns around there.”

Makin says in-home monitoring, such as modern electric bracelets that look no different than a Disneyland MagicBand, are one of the most effective ways to curb repeat offenses.

Last semester, three students in his Crime Prevention Strategies class recommended electronic monitoring to the Spokane Police Department as part of their research into vehicle theft prevention.

The students wrote that compared to the average cost of incarceration per inmate per year — about $31,286 — the $4,500 to $8,500 it would cost for electronic monitoring would be a cheaper alternative, and would help curb recidivism.

Find out more

MarketScreener
WSU Insider

 

Yasinitsky CD ‘YAZZ Band’ receives bevy of national attention

Greg Yasinitsky.
Greg Yasinitsky

“YAZZ Band,” the recently released compact disc from Greg Yasinitsky, the School of Music Regent’s Professor, has received significant national attention, including a feature in Down Beat magazine — the “Jazz Bible” — and on the Public Radio International show “Jazz After Hours.”

The disc also features WSU School of Music faculty members Sarah Miller, Brian Ward and David Jarvis, along with WSU alumni Patrick Sheng and PJ Kelley, and WSU Professor Emerita Ann Marie Yasinitsky. “YAZZ Band” was recorded in the WSU Recording Studio by WSU Recording Engineer David Bjur.

As of late January, “YAZZ Band” has appeared for 14 weeks on national radio play lists including the North American College and Community Top 30, and Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Jazz Album charts, and the Jazzweek top 50. “YAZZ Band ” was listed as one of the “CDs of the Year – Big Bands” by Bebop Spoken Here in the United Kingdom and the CD has received a number of enthusiastic reviews internationally.

Find out more

WSU Insider

Anna Plemons named WSU’s 2019 Woman of the Year

Anna Plemons.Anna Plemons, a clinical assistant professor of English, has been selected as the 2019 WSU Woman of the Year.

Plemons teaches classes on the WSU Pullman campus in composition, rhetoric, and digital technology and culture. Additionally, she is the director of the Critical Literacies and Achievement and Success Program (CLASP) for the College of Arts and Sciences.

She, and five other 2019 WSU Women of Distinction, will be honored at the 2019 WSU Women of Distinction Celebration, 6 p.m. Monday, March 4, in the M.G. Carey Senior Ballroom of the Compton Union Building on the WSU Pullman campus. This event is free to those that RSVP prior to March 1.

Find out more

WSU Insider

Franceschi Microscopy and Imaging Center acquires new microscope

Michael Knoblauch.Washington State University’s Franceschi Microscopy and Imaging Center has acquired a microscope so powerful and versatile that Michael Knoblauch, the center director, compares it to a pig capable of making wool, milk and eggs. Or, to quote his native German, an eierlegende Wollmilchsau.

Technically, it’s an Apreo VolumeScope, and it brings a suite of imaging techniques, including the piecing together of detailed three‑dimensional images with a resolution of 10 nanometers, or about 1/10,000th of the width of a human hair.

The VolumeScope’s 3D reconstruction feature “allows identification of subcellular structures at unprecedented detail for life scientists,” according to the center’s grant application.

“This instrument will allow us to perform cutting‑edge research,” Knoblauch wrote in the center’s grant application, “and will significantly increase our capabilities and competitiveness.”

Find out more

WSU Insider

Inside the Spokane Police Department’s body camera program

The Spokane Police Department spends about $310,000 a year for their body cameras, but officers say they want to keep the program despite high costs.

David MakinDavid Makin, a criminal justice professor at Washington State University, said the yearly cost for Spokane to store their police body camera footage is common.

“It is [common]. I mean you look at Norfolk, Virginia. The Norfolk Police Department, based on my last conversation, they were spending about $300,000 a year,” said Makin, who runs the Complex Social Interaction lab dedicated to analyzing body camera footage.

Makin said that the usage of body cameras should not stop solely at holding officers accountable.

“I’d say probably the hardest question agencies struggle with is, ‘how do you make use of the footage,'” Makin said. “It’s one thing to intake all these volumes of footage. What do you do with it?”

Find out more

KREM