SPOKANE -- The shootings of four police officers in Lakewood, coming on the heels of an unrelated deadly shooting of a police officer several weeks ago in Seattle, has prompted the Spokane Police Department to make some changes in the way it does business.

In the past police officers would park their patrol cars in the middle of the Spokane Arena to write up their reports on their computers at the end of their shifts. The parking lot afforded them clear fields of view for up to a hundred yards in all directions, giving them plenty of time to see anything approaching them and react to potential threats.

Effective Monday, Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick has banned police officers driving solo from writing their reports in the Arena parking lot in the interests of officer safety.

The shootings of four police officers in Lakewood, coming on the heels of an unrelated deadly shooting of a police officer several weeks ago in Seattle, has prompted the Spokane Police Department to make some changes in the way it does business.“My concern as I'm sure is your concern is that this is probably copycat,” Chief Kirkpatrick said to her officers during the morning roll call.

Kirkpatrick attended each shift’s roll call Monday to let her officers know that the two shootings in Western Washington has her concerned about the safety of members of the department.

“Even when they get Clemmons in I do not think nor should you think this is over, or potentially over … I think the danger is still there,” she said.

Kirpatrick believes Lakewood gunman Maurice Clemmons was inspired by the Halloween night ambush on a pair of Seattle policemen that left Officer Timothy Brenton dead. She's concerned about additional copy cat attacks and doesn't want her officers to be sitting targets.

“What I’m asking you to do is do not write police reports in your patrol car. I want you to come to the station or go to Cop Shops or have someone with you to act as some sort of lookout,” Kirkpatrick said.

Officers typically spend up to two hours every shift writing reports but if they do that in their cars police can stop filing out their paperwork and respond to calls for service faster. Now they will have to choose between their safety and crime-fighting efficiency and their chief open to suggestions.

“Y’all are the one's who are going to be out there, if you think going to a two officer car approach for a while is the thing to do I will approve it,” she said.

Two-officer patrol cars would be very nice but it's a luxury a city the size of Spokane just can't afford on a long term basis. Police will just have to be even more aware of their surroundings and invariably that could put up barriers between the officers and the public they serve.