SPOKANE, Wash. — This election, Spokane voters are deciding whether or not to raise the city’s sales tax by one-tenth of one percent for community safety initiatives.
A majority of this funding is said to go towards Spokane Police and Spokane Fire.
If passed, Proposition 1 would bring back the city’s Traffic Safety Unit and seven neighborhood resource officers.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Proposition 1: Increased community safety tax for Spokane on November ballot
“We’re allocating these resources through data driven, science informed strategies. They we can impact crime at a much greater rate than simply sprinkling officer dust around and saying ‘go forth and conquer,'” said Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall. “If it’s focused and targeted to certain behaviors in certain locations that we know drive crime, then its going to drive the crime numbers down.”
Councilmember Jonathan Bingle has argued that increasing police officers won’t do much good if there’s no room in the jail to place people who have been arrested.
Chief Hall believes otherwise.
“In a post-COVID, post George Floyd world, we have to look for alternatives to how we address problems, both crime problems and social problems like substance misuse or substance abuse, homelessness and behavioral health,” Hall said. “Looking for those alternative methods and pathways can only help to increase public perception of safety.”
Spokane Fire Chief Julie O’Berg said money would also be used to replace Spokane Fire’s aging equipment, like some of their engines.
Engine 16, one of the many firetrucks used to serve the city, has been used on the front lines since 2009. It is currently in the shop for electrical issues.
Chief O’Berg said in a perfect world, it wouldn’t even be used as a backup truck anymore.
“We have had over the last couple of years some brush trucks that we’ve had to have towed back into the city because of mechanical failures/ We have not had in any recent history an issue of a fire engine or fire trucks failing on the way to a call but those are not odds I want to rely on just from being lucky,” O’Berg said.
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