Spokane leaders outline joint enforcement, treatment and funding plan as overdoses rise

Spokane County and Spokane city officials met in a joint session to address a worsening opioid and stimulant overdose problem, hear new law-enforcement and medical-examiner data, and describe joint short- and long-term investments in treatment, overdose response and prosecutorial resources.

The meeting brought together county commissioners and city council members with Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown; Spokane Police Department leadership; the Spokane County sheriff; the county chief medical examiner; and representatives of regional drug-task forces and behavioral-health providers to review recent trends and planned actions.

Why it matters: officials said overdose calls, naloxone deployments and drug seizures have increased sharply, and fentanyl is driving most fatal overdoses. They described a two-track strategy of using outreach and treatment to engage people first while bolstering mid- and upper-level narcotics investigations to disrupt supply.

"The opioid epidemic is a crisis that requires a unified response," Mayor Lisa Brown said, framing the meeting as a regional effort. Chief Hall of the Spokane Police Department described a multi-pronged policing strategy that privileges "engagement first, enforcement second" while also establishing a new Tactical Operations Unit, "TACOPS," to target mid- and high-level traffickers.

Sheriff (name not specified) summarized data compiled by the Raven Task Force and county analysts: "First responders dispatched to drug related calls have quadrupled in the last 3 years. Calls related to deploying naloxone have increased 5 fold during the same time period from 2022 to 2024," he said, and added that fentanyl-, methamphetamine- and cocaine-related overdose deaths have been trending up since mid‑2024.

Law enforcement and investigations

Chief Hall said the Spokane Police Department expanded a downtown pilot called Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement, and has continued the program through 2025 for further evaluation. Hall described a downtown crime-control plan that increases…