(The Center Square) – While crime rates remained relatively the same throughout Spokane County from 2022 to 2023, some municipalities saw major increases in drug-related offenses and other serious crimes.
The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs released its annual Crime in Washington 2023 report last week, detailing shifts from 2022 to 2023. Some Spokane County municipalities saw an overall increase of about 7%, while others experienced decreases as high as 12%, but crime was down 3.4% overall.
Still, when comparing data across the county, drug-related violations saw a dramatic increase, with extortion, weapon violations, rape and burglary trailing behind.
From 2022 to 2023 alone, Spokane County experienced a 288% increase in reported “Drug Equipment Violations.” Out of the 105 reported offenses, only one arrest was made. In that same period, “Drug/Narcotic Violations” rose by 283%. Out of the 534 reported offenses, officers made 463 arrests.
"Drug Equipment Violations" are defined as "the unlawful manufacture, sale, purchase, possession, or transportation of equipment or devices utilized in preparing and/or using drugs or narcotics;" while "Drug/Narcotic Violations" means "the unlawful cultivation, manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, use, possession, transportation, or importation of any controlled drug or narcotic substance."
Additionally, “Extortion/Blackmail” offenses increased by 39.5% countywide, with only two arrests out of the 194 reports; “Weapon Law Violations” by 14.5%, with only 213 arrests for 534 reports; rapes by 9.8%, with 23 arrests for 280 reports; and burglaries by 8.9%, with 554 arrests across 3,525 reports.
"Weapon Law Violations" are defined as "the violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacturing, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices, or other deadly weapons."
All of this data represents the county as a whole, combining statistics from the seven agencies that participated in the 2023 report.
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels attributed the the major increases to the regional and national drug crisis, which he said is the root cause of most violent crime in the area.
“We’ve had such an increase in the amount of controlled substances that are being trafficked through Spokane, out into Montana, in ways that, 20 years ago, were unfathomable,” he said.
While certain crime rates are trending down, others closely related to drug use and trafficking are on the rise, according to Nowels.
“I believe that is directly related to the amount of controlled substances in our community,” he said, “and really, the behavior of our citizens trying to numb themselves from whatever seems to be ailing them.”
Nowels pointed to a correlation between violence in a community and the drug trafficking that occurs there; he said the issue in Spokane has exacerbated so much that officers are seizing more drugs than they’ve ever seen in the region over the past decade.
Part of the issue is diminished staffing and a lack of incentive for potential candidates to apply due to the stigma surrounding law enforcement. While agencies nationwide advertise sign-on bonuses, the incentive does little to nothing regarding retention.
Undersheriff Kevin Richey recently said that the county hopes to hire 30 to 60 more officers in the next year after only retaining about 20% of its new hires since 2021.
Washington ranks last behind the 50 other states and the District of Columbia in terms of the number of officers per capita. While the national average is about 2.31 officers per 1,000 residents, Washington’s is only at 1.35, falling 58% behind, according to WASPC.
“This is the 13th straight year for Washington being the lowest per capita for law enforcement,” WASPC President Steven Strachan said last week. “If we were to get to the national average, we would need to hire 8,000 officers.”
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