SPOKANE, WA – The Spokane Police Department (SPD) out of Washington have reportedly received a series of recommended policy updates pertaining to responses to protests and civil unrest from the Office of the Police Ombudsman (OPO) following the outfit’s review of the June 2025 protests and riots which occurred outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the city.
On the evening of June 11th, 2025, a protest staged outside of an ICE facility in Spokane, which was reportedly initiated in part by former Spokane City Councilman Ben Stuckart who decried the apprehension of a 21-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela whom he personally knew, devolved into an unlawful assembly where more than 30 people were arrested.
In the 13 months following the June 2025 incident and the then-response from the SPD to the matter, the OPO had been drafting a report regarding the incident as well as areas of opportunity for the department’s policies and procedures in how to best respond to First Amendment protected activities as well as unlawful assemblies and civil unrest.
The OPO’s report highlighted how SPD allowed the protest, which had been unruly largely from the onset, to go on for hours before declaring an unlawful assembly, adding that the response incorporating less-lethal munitions was further complicated due to the protest having occurred “in a dense urban area near Riverfront Park, local businesses, public sidewalks and streets, and One Spokane Stadium, where a professional soccer game was underway.”
According to the report, the OPO conceded that SPD officials were dealing with a “complex operational environment” given the location of the protest while having to balance public safety interests in tandem with respecting First Amendment protected activities. While criticisms were levied toward the SPD over community complaints that instructions given by police were seemingly unclear at times during the June 2025 response, the OPO also highlighted instances where SPD excelled during their response.
Among the recommended policy updates highlighted, some of which have already been implemented prior to the OPO’s published report, were suggestions that SPD craft a protocol regarding incidents involving federal immigration facilities, anti-ICE protests, and handling of requests from federal authorities.
Additionally, the OPO recommended that the SPD draft a “mission statement” in response to planned protests which outlines the purpose of rank-and-file officers present during various demonstrations, such as defining potential public safety concerns, command structure, and any limits on how police respond to unrest.
Use-of-force was also a matter addressed in the OPO’s report, suggesting that SPD policy “should also clarify that passive resistance, expressive conduct, or non-compliance alone should not automatically justify force absent additional facts establishing an articulable public safety concern, threat, or lawful basis for enforcement.”
As it relates to the delivery of dispersal orders, the OPO recommended the SPD create a standardized procedure for how said orders are delivered to crowds when an assembly becomes unlawful.
Comments