3/22/2022
Not much today, some reverberations about the City’s new RFP for a shelter from KXLY.
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KXLY
KREM
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KXLY
March 21, 2022 5:33 PM
Updated: March 21, 2022 6:56 PM
SPOKANE, Wash.– The City of Spokane wants feedback about where to add a new homeless shelter.
City leaders have been searching for months and say people keep shooting down possible locations.
Business owners who are close to the homeless shelters that already exist said they know it’s hard to find more space, but they’re paying the price.
The owner of D.Lish Burgers, Mike Lish, said he’s concerned about the safety of his customers and employees. He’ already made changes because of the issue, like closing the restaurant at 8 p.m. every night. That’s something he doesn’t think will ever change.
“When you’ve been in the same place for years and then all of a sudden you have a problem, you start questioning what’s going on. And, it’s not getting any better. That’s the frustrating part,” Lish said.
He’s not alone in his frustrations.
The owners of North Bowl bowling alley, Sharlene and Mark Palos are dealing with similar issues.
“It’s either you choose whether to have your businesses flourish, or you have a place for these homeless people,” the Palos said. “They sleep on the side of the buildings and leave their bags of trash all over the place. Sometimes, there’s needles in there. We have a lot of little kids that come bowl at our center, so they see this stuff out there.”
The Palos want to see people get the help they need but don’t want small, family-owned businesses to suffer the expense. They have a shelter in their backyard and hope a new one doesn’t open as close to their businesses.
“What we’re doing now isn’t working. It just blows my mind. Let’s try that. Let’s try finding someplace,” the Palos said.
Finding that place has not been easy. These business owners said having homeless shelters near them hasn’t made things more simple.
These business owners did say the problems decreased a bit when The Way Out Shelter transitioned to a bridge housing program. When it was a low barrier, emergency shelter, things were much worse. Since the Salvation Army is focusing on housing people committed to exiting homelessness, the issues aren’t as bad. However, it’s the bleed over from the downtown core they’re still struggling to get a handle on.
These owners say they’re worried about more low-barrier space being added in the city.
The City of Spokane will accept feedback through March 24. You can share your thoughts and ideas here.
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KREM
Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill into law last week, clarifying the state's existing police reform laws that took effect last year.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington law enforcement can now use force to detain people once again, but with some restrictions.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill into law last week, clarifying the state's existing police reform laws that took effect last year.
One of the top concerns law enforcement had with Washington State's series of police reforms laws was the ambiguous language. Officers believe House Bill 2037 addresses this concern by making it clear when police can use force to stop people from fleeing a temporary investigative detention. This is also known as a Terry stop.
Gov. Inslee signed the Terry Stop Bill into law on Friday. It is effective immediately.
"By the way the bill is written, it strikes a great balance to keep everyone safe," Inslee said.
The original police reform laws didn't allow police to use force to temporarily detain someone. Meaning, potential suspects could simply leave.
"The ambiguity is what prevented action at times because law enforcement couldn't be confident in the actions they were taking, and whether it would be legal or not" Undersheriff John Nowels with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office said.
But under the new law, police may use physical force to detain someone if it prevents them from leaving the area, or to stop an immediate threat. However, they cannot use force when a detained person is being compliant.
"This allows us to have those tools back to detain them and be able to prevent them from hopefully, ideally, continuing down that crime spree that they may be right in the middle of," Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said.
Advocates for the police reform laws asked Inslee to veto section three of the law, which clarifies physical force.
In a letter from the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, it believes the law will allow for practices it fought to restrict.
"The reality is, for people of color, this bill does not make us any safer," coalition member and Spokane resident Kurtis Robinson said.
Enoka Herat with WA ACLU adds the ramifications of the new law.
"This would allow officers to use force at the sort of the lowest levels of interaction when officers have the least amount of evidence connecting someone to wrongdoing," Herat said.
There are still some restrictions to police use of force. The law says police still must use reasonable care, such as first using appropriate de-escalation techniques, before using physical force.
Robinson doesn't believe this is enough.
"It's just the beginning," Robinson said. "Because the reality is, this should have been the standard all along."
But Chief Meidl acknowledges most of the reform laws remain intact.
"All the other caveats that were included in the reform laws are still included: a duty to de-escalate, a duty to render aid, a duty to intervene as an officer if you see another officer using force that is not constitutional law is outside policy," Meidl said. "It keeps many of those same safeguards, but gives us back tools that we really need to keep our community safe."