Your City Council prioritizes public safety and has been making historic investments in our Police Department this year.
In 2025, the City funded an initial 10 new police officers without any additional taxes by reprioritizing existing resources and making reductions of $1.3 million in all non-police departments. Now, the Council will vote tomorrow night on a plan to hire 10 additional new dedicated police positions and one new shared detective and cover costs for one existing behavioral health deputy position due to grant funding going away. These newest positions include investments in patrol, traffic investigations, behavioral health, schools, property and drug crime investigations, sex crimes, and regional drug enforcement activities.
This second round of hiring is in thanks to Valley voters who approved Proposition 1 Public Safety Sales Tax ballot measure by 58.32% in the Aug. 5, 2025, primary election. All revenues from this increase of the sales tax rate by one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) are dedicated to public safety expenses.
Read more about this next phase of implementation in the Council memo - https://spokanevalley.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=3&event_id=1363&meta_id=102610
