Spokane arrests increase nearly 20% as overdose deaths rise 45% countywide

(The Center Square) – Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall announced Monday that while calls for service dropped by less than 1% over 2024, arrests increased nearly 20%, with reports of unlawful camping up by 145%.

The Spokane Police Department has hovered around 250,000 calls annually for the past two years after receiving only 217,568 in 2022. While stagnant for now, arrests increased steadily from 6,376 in 2022 to 7,971 in 2023 to 9,515 last year, a nearly 50% increase since 2022.

According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, homelessness has increased by 15% since January 2022, though down 15% from January 2023. Another count will occur later this month, as some providers caution that it has increased significantly since last winter.

Hall presented SPD data to the Spokane City Council on Monday, comparing last year to the one before as his officers transition into 2025. One slide focused on violent crime, which recent reports have shown is down as some skeptics contend it’s not worth calling the police anymore.

“What does crime look like in Spokane,” Hall said, referencing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2020 to 2023. “We align pretty closely with Tacoma and Reno.”

According to AreaVibes, which provides livability scores based on FBI data, Tacoma is the most dangerous city in terms of violent crime across the state. Reno also ranks the most dangerous in Nevada. AreaVibes ranks Spokane at No. 8, slightly safer than Tukwila and Seattle.

Hall said crimes against persons, which are assault, homicide, manslaughter, sexual offenses, human trafficking and abduction, increased slightly overall; however, aggravated and simple assaults outside of domestic violence dropped about 4.5% to 2,452 reported offenses last year.

According to the SPD data, domestic violence increased from about 4,700 to 4,900 offenses last year. The vast majority of those were assaults, people violating protective/no contact orders, damage or destruction of property and intimidation.

The chief said confirmed shootings topped out at 142 for 2024, with 42 resulting in victim injury. The 2024 total is five more than the year before but only one more than in 2022.

“Very similar to the past two years, which is concerning to me; we need to make some headway in this area,” Hall said. “We are developing a violent gun crime reduction plan that you’ll be seeing in the future.”

While calls related to trespassing dropped 2% last year, the offense accounted for more arrests, which includes citations where the suspect was then released, than any other, at 17%. Meanwhile, calls for unlawful camping skyrocketed to 4,287 across 2024, a 145% annual increase.

Hall’s data also showed that calls for service related to drugs increased nearly 16%, with DOAs, or dead-on-arrival calls, up almost 13%, reaching 609 in 2024. Calls about pedestrian interference, which is similar in use to Spokane’s “Sit & Lie” law, increased 107%.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office told The Center Square there were at least 338 overdose deaths last year. The statistic represents a 45% annual increase countywide from 2023, though they added that it'll likely rise as pending toxicology reports come in.

Hall provided The Center Square with a document detailing crime rates over the last year. While it only includes data from Jan. 1 to Dec. 21, 2024, the document alleges that violent crime decreased 7.65% compared to 2023, with property crime also down 11.78%.

According to the document, violent crime includes homicide, rape, robbery and assaults, while property crime means burglaries, larceny, vehicle theft and arson. The only two that increased on the sheet were “Robbery-Person” by 5.26% and “Arson” by 44.19%.

“The data for the year is not complete, but it is close,” Hall wrote in an email. “We are working on end-of-year numbers now.”