Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Police Operations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
SPD: Calls for service down but arrests and certain incidents rising; towing contract still unresolved
Summary
Chief Hall, speaking at the March 3 Spokane Public Safety Committee meeting, said calls for service are “ticking down” even as arrests and certain incident types — including dead‑on‑arrival calls and unlawful camping — remain elevated above recent averages.
Chief Hall, speaking at the March 3 Spokane Public Safety Committee meeting, told council members that calls for service are “ticking down,” even as arrests have continued to rise and certain incident types — including dead-on-arrival (DOA) calls and unlawful camping — remained above year-to-date and five‑year averages.
The report showed a small uptick in response times for Priority 1 calls; Chief Hall and council members discussed the chart that lists Priority 1 response time at 5 minutes, 35 seconds for 2023 while noting a separate 2025 marker on the slide. Hall also said many recent arrests have been for misdemeanors, particularly property crimes and low‑level domestic violence cases.
Council members pressed Hall for more context about quality‑of‑life enforcement and outcomes. “When we…put the emphasis there, 13 out of 190 connected with services,” one member said; Hall confirmed the number remains low and that staff are developing additional strategies to increase connections to services and will brief council again next month.
Members also raised vehicle‑related enforcement and towing. Hall said the department is responding to vehicle calls but has been forced to resolve some incidents without towing because the city’s towing arrangement is in flux. Maggie Yates (city staff) described the problem as “contractual issues” and said procurement is “working along with SPD diligently” to clarify costs, ensure city dollars are stretched and make sure the city is billed only for tows occurring inside Spokane.
Council members asked for additional, more granular data. Requests included geographic breakdowns of arrests and citations (indoors vs. outdoors vs. public right‑of‑way) and recidivism metrics (unique individuals vs. multiple arrests). Hall volunteered to explore those data points and to return with a fuller report.
Other highlights in the presentation: pedestrian interference and unlawful camping—particularly at the viaducts—remain notable sources of quality‑of‑life calls; overall shooting counts were low at the start of the year and the department cautioned against treating a low snapshot as a trend; and the department has removed “sit and lie” from a dedicated slide because those incident counts were very low compared with pedestrian interference and unlawful camping.
Council members suggested bringing municipal court and therapeutic court representatives to a future committee meeting so the council sees the full process and capacity for handling arrests after SPD makes arrests. Hall agreed such a briefing would help illustrate what happens to arrestees after they leave SPD custody.
