(The Center Square) – Despite crime increasing by nearly 8% last month, Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall focused on positive trends during his monthly update on Monday, as dozens of jail beds sit empty.
Crime has decreased compared to last summer, according to local data, but larcenies, aggravated assaults and robberies have all contributed to recent increases. The situation took a turn for the worse around mid-July, even though Spokane’s crime rates largely improved over the last winter and spring.
Critics point to Spokane County’s Detention Services Dashboard, which has shown over a hundred jail beds sitting empty for weeks. Some people argue that the Spokane Police Department should be filling those amid rumors that there’s no room for lower-level offenders, but jail staffing can also play a role.
“Over 60% of the time the jail goes on red-light status, it has nothing to do with bed capacity and has everything to do with staffing,” Hall told the Spokane City Council on Monday.
As of publishing, Detention Services has entered a red-light status, meaning that the jails can’t book new inmates, 23 times over the last month, totaling 36 hours. People often cite a lack of capacity at the downtown jail as the reason, but Spokane County Spokesperson Pat Bell says there is more to it.
Bell said that lower occupancy could reflect fewer arrests, more inmates facing serious charges that require single-cell housing, or diversions like mental health treatment and pretrial release programs.
The jails, like other public safety departments, also deal with staffing shortages that are hard to fill; Bell said county officials are monitoring the situation to better understand the changes in occupancy.
According to SPD’s latest report, crime has decreased by 11.56% when comparing January to August 2024 to the same period in 2025; however, violent crime rose by 4.72% across much of August 2025 compared to the month before, with property crime increasing by 8.32% last month compared to July.
Together, the increases in both property and violent crime represent a 7.9% jump in August over July, though SPD still recorded fewer crimes last month than in every August since before the pandemic.
“911 calls, these are dispatch calls, continue to trend down over the past three years,” Hall said. “As the 911 calls trend down, the crime check calls trend up, officer-initiated calls trend up; so that makes sense to us, if the 911 calls are trending down, that gives officers more time to do proactive work.”
Hall said arrests are up over 2023, but down compared to last year, which he attributed to a reduction in calls for service and declining crime, though some critics argue it’s not worth calling SPD anymore.
He said that while 160 beds remain open at the downtown jail as of Monday morning, many will never be filled for the reasons that Bell pointed out. Some would prefer to see the city fill those with people living on the streets, but homelessness isn’t a jailable offense unless they have outstanding warrants.
The council recently passed a new citywide camping ban that allows individuals to avoid enforcement if they agree to leave the area or participate in treatment. Hall said that SPD hasn’t cited anyone over the ban yet due to total compliance, but SPD did make 10 arrests due to other outstanding warrants.
“We’re capturing all of the calls for service that the HOME [Homelessness Outreach and Management Engagement] ordinance would fall under,” Hall said. “What they found was, through 120 calls for service, they contacted 212 subjects. There were zero arrests … 30 repeat contacts, seven have been contacted three times, two have been contacted four times.”
