Citizen Portal
Sign In

Spokane police outline strategic plan, report early results from Safe & Accessible Spaces ordinance

Spokane City Council Public Safety & Community Health Committee · February 3, 2026

Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts

Subscribe
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Police Chief Kevin Hall presented six strategic priorities—targeting a 10% reduction in gun violence, data upgrades and expanded training—and released first 90‑day figures from the Safe & Accessible Spaces ordinance: 1,456 documented interactions, 902 offers of services and 265 acceptances, with 728 citations (65% downtown/Riverside).

Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall on Wednesday summarized the department’s six-priority strategic plan and released early performance numbers from the city’s Safe & Accessible Spaces ordinance.

Hall said the plan prioritizes reducing gun violence by 10% citywide, improving data infrastructure with a new records management system and computer‑aided dispatch, and deploying precision, problem‑oriented policing. "We are leveraging data through NIBIN, social network analysis, RMS and CAD," he said, adding that a new integrated ballistic information network (NIBIN) is up and running.

On the ordinance, Hall presented Nov. 1–Dec. 31 results: 1,456 documented interactions, 902 offers of services and 265 acceptances; officers initiated 83 calls to outreach services and 22 outreach requests to SPD; officers recorded 728 citations, about 65% in the Riverside neighborhood and downtown. Hall said navigation‑center partners received referrals and that 364 people were navigated into shelter beds during the period.

Council members asked for more detail on outcomes, repeated citations for the same individual, and how offers translate to treatment. Hall described the department’s approach as "compassionate policing," saying officers aim to hand people off to outreach or community court and that citations are not a long‑term solution by themselves.

Hall also addressed public concern about SPD’s involvement with federal immigration enforcement, stating clearly that "we have no role in federal immigration enforcement" and that the department does not work with ICE or Border Patrol for immigration enforcement purposes.

Councilors asked for follow-up reports, including demographic breakdowns, citation recidivism, and whether the downtown concentration of enforcement shifts burdens to other neighborhoods. Hall said the department will return with more detailed data next month.

The committee did not take a formal vote on policy changes; members requested additional reporting and stronger public communications about what SPD can and cannot do.

The committee scheduled further updates on operational impacts and requested that SPD provide clearer breakdowns of citations, offers and outcomes in future reports.