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Spokane County awarded grant and coordinates mutual aid for FIFA World Cup events
Summary
Spokane County received approximately $726,000 in FEMA/Homeland Security grant funds to reimburse personnel and equipment costs related to FIFA World Cup events; Spokane Valley police and regional partners will provide limited mutual-aid support and benefit from shared equipment purchases.
Chief Dave Ellis briefed council on regional public-safety planning tied to the FIFA World Cup (June 11–July 19), including local fan zones, the Egyptian national team training in Spokane County and grant-funded operational support.
Ellis said Spokane County was awarded approximately $726,000 from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse overtime, travel and certain equipment purchases, including a bomb-disposal robot, long-range acoustic device for crowd communication, an aerial platform and counter-UAS training. He said some operational support requests for the Seattle matches will be met through mutual aid and that participating officers and technicians will be reimbursed under the grant. Ellis also noted regional coordination for air support and that many mutual-aid deployments would be performed on officers’ days off to avoid degrading local staffing.
Council asked whether sending personnel to Seattle would reduce local coverage; Ellis said the county structured deployments to avoid service impacts and that equipment purchased with grant funds will remain available for local use after the events.
What happens next: County grant administration and mutual-aid scheduling will continue; council members will be updated if additional operational requests affect local staffing or budgets.
