Spokane interim police chief comments on lack of law enforcement responses

(The Center Square) – As Spokane continues to struggle with vagrancy, Interim Police Chief Justin Lundgren took a moment on Thursday to defend his department against what critics contend is a lack of response to homelessness and related challenges.

Lundgren's defense came as part of an informal online newsletter of roughly 200 to 250 community members. The group continually calls on the Spokane Police Department, Mayor Lisa Brown and the City Council to step up and take a tougher stance on crime amid recent unrest often tied to homelessness.

The conversations in the thread often center on the lack of enforcement over illegal camping, open-air drug use and burglaries. Many in the thread are local business owners, property developers and real estate brokers, some of whom had their places broken into this past week.

Members frequently post about break-ins and how they feel it’s not worth reporting to SPD anymore, noting that nothing usually happens if an officer even responds. The owner bears the cost of repairs and additional security, while the perpetrator often walks away.

“I am beyond frustrated that there isn’t always an officer available to immediately send to situations like these,” Lundgren wrote. “The truth is, there are times when all of our patrol officers are assigned to priority calls and incoming calls are placed into a holding que.”

Lundgren said that in the first half of 2024, dispatch answered around 539 service calls daily, with 129 additional “proactive” incidents that officers encountered independently. Not every call ended with a response, but when one did, it required, on average, 1.8 officers and about 40 minutes.

However, Lundgren also said, “The good news is” that SPD had 5,500 fewer calls for service in the first half of 2024 than it did for that same timeframe in 2023. Still, some residents didn’t agree with how he portrayed the situation, thanking him for the response but criticizing its nature.

“If you want that [arrest] data to have an impact on citizens, you will need to also show the numbers who were jailed and how long they were jailed,” resident Deborah Testa replied. “For too long now, arrests that were made only resulted in a very rapid release, allowing the same criminals to repeat offend.”

Lundgren said this is the busiest work environment he’s encountered in his career, and the demand for resources exceeds what’s available at times. However, he also pushed back, saying officers are making even more arrests now than in the first half of last year.

Local Businessman Rod Bacon replied to Lundgren as well, thankful he took the time to address their concerns, but he questioned the validity and sincerity of the interim chiefs’ email.

“I am sure every concerned citizen on this list is glad that we appear to have your attention. However, the statistics you are providing do not jibe with what we are actually seeing,” Bacon replied. "Let’s see the SPD enforcing Prop. 1 , no public drug use, and Sit-Lie for starters, then you will have credibility.”

Bacon previously floated the idea of a recall petition to oust Brown from power over the current state of public safety, a conversation that some members keep returning to. Sheldon Jackson, who runs the newsletter, briefly mentioned the idea again this morning, but is hesitant to proceed.

However, community members aren’t the only ones responding. Last week, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels criticized the city’s tax proposal and its potential impact on the jail system, and Councilmembers Michael Cathcart and Jonathan Bingle have responded at times too.

“We have been asking these same questions for months,” Jackson wrote on Friday morning, “but [Brown’s] Administration does not think that this email group [is] worthy of answers.”