DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100637

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   42 lines

POLICE OFFICERS COMING TO A 7-ELEVEN NEAR YOU

Police visiting the 7-Eleven at 920 Level Green Blvd. will soon have office space, a phone line and two reserved parking spaces as part of a growing partnership that has put police into 139 of the convenience stores in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

The deal officially announced Thursday is the first in Virginia Beach. There are three police offices in Portsmouth 7-Elevens, and six others throughout the state, according to the Southland Corp., the parent company of 7-Eleven.

``There are some people who just aren't comfortable coming into the police station to ask a question, but they might ask an officer they see face-to-face in a 7-Eleven store,'' Police Chief Charles R. Wall said in a press release announcing the partnership. ``This will allow people to talk to their neighborhood patrol officers in a positive situation, and that helps build positive relationships within that community.''

The convenience-store chain has been luring police inside for years with complimentary coffee and sodas. Officers on patrol often use the phones and restrooms in the stores when they can't return to their precinct headquarters.

The stores benefit because the increased police presence deters crime. Twenty-four-hour convenience stores are among the most frequently robbed businesses, statistics show.

The mini-office is officially called a Police Community Network Center. The idea behind the pairing of police and convenience stores came last year and quickly spread throughout the country.

The chain's donation of satellite office space in some neighborhoods coincides with the local and national move toward community policing. That model of policing means, in part, putting more officers in the neighborhoods they serve and making them more accessible to the citizens.

``Our department is very active in community policing in the Level Green area of the city, but our officers have been without a community office,'' Wall said. ``We are looking forward to expanding our partnership with 7-Eleven and having a community-based office available for our use in the neighborhood 7-Eleven store. This opportunity not only will benefit the police officers and 7-Eleven, but, more importantly, the citizens of Level Green.'' KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT 7-ELEVEN

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