Editing Spokane, Washington (section)

===Crime===
{{Further|Spokane Police Department}}
{{Infobox UCR
|city_name= Spokane
|year= 2022
|homicide= 18
|rape= 194
|robbery= 309
|aggravated_assault= 1,039
|violent_crime= 1,560
|burglary= 1,786
|larceny_theft= 9,987
|motor_vehicle_theft= 1,843
|arson= 75
|property_crime= 13,691
|source_url= https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend
|source_name= 2022 FBI UCR Data
|notes= 2022 population: 230,160
}}

The crime rate per 1,000 people in the Spokane metropolitan area (Spokane County) was 64.8 in 2012, higher than the Washington state average of 38.3; the violent crime rate of 3.8 and property crime rate of 61 also exceed the statewide averages of 2.5 and 35.8, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 30, 2013 |title=Statistical Analysis Center |url=http://wa-state-ofm.us/UniformCrimeReport/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128221704/http://wa-state-ofm.us/UniformCrimeReport/ |archive-date=November 28, 2014 |access-date=December 7, 2014 |work=Uniform Crime Report |publisher=Washington State Office of Financial Management |df=mdy-all}}</ref> [[NeighborhoodScout]] describes Spokane as "Safer than 2% of U.S. Cities".<ref name="NeighborhoodScout">{{cite web |title=Spokane, WA: Crime Rates |url=http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wa/spokane/crime |access-date=January 5, 2020 |publisher=[[NeighborhoodScout]]}}</ref>

[[File:SpokaneCountyCourthouse 2017 0304.jpg|thumb|left|alt=The Spokane County Courthouse in the West Central neighborhood|Spokane County Courthouse]]

Half of all property crimes are localized in about 6.5 percent of the city.<ref name="Crime">{{cite news |last=Cuniff |first=Meghann |date=March 31, 2012 |title=Property crimes to get new focus |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/mar/31/property-crimes-to-get-new-focus |access-date=December 7, 2014 |newspaper=The Spokesman-Review}}</ref> Spokane had the fourth-highest rate of auto theft in the U.S. in 2010 and 2011, according to the [[National Insurance Crime Bureau]].<ref name="Crime" /> Drive-by shootings and drug use, particularly [[crack cocaine]] use, became worse in the early 1990s, and four drive-by shootings were recorded in December 1993 alone.<ref name="Kienholz">Kienholz (1999), p.188</ref> In the 1990s, the [[Spokane Police Department]] (SPD) established a special gang unit, with an officer "collecting intelligence on gang activity and disseminating it to street officers".<ref name="Kienholz" /> The 1990s also saw Spokane's most prolific serial killer, [[Robert Lee Yates]], who killed thirteen prostitutes in Spokane's East Sprague red light district and confessed to two others in [[Tacoma, Washington]].<ref>Fox et al. (2014), pp. 144–145</ref> The transition of the Spokane Police Department to a community-policing [[Police precinct|precinct]] model has helped curb crime rates since its introduction downtown, and has been expanded citywide.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jonathan |first=Brunt |date=October 22, 2013 |title=Spokane Police Department to open two new precincts |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/oct/22/spokane-police-department-to-open-two-new |access-date=October 11, 2014 |newspaper=The Spokesman-Review}}</ref> The crime woes are possibly due in part to an imbalance that Spokane County prisons receive of pre-release and work-release prisoners; An investigation by the ''Tacoma News Tribune'' found that while Spokane County accounts for 6.21 percent of the inmates in state prisons, it receives a disproportionate 16.73 percent of the inmate population to be released into the general population.<ref>{{cite web |last=Turner |first=Joseph |date=October 20, 2006 |title=Pierce County: Dumping ground |url=http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/special-reports/article25857493.html |access-date=August 6, 2016 |publisher='The News Tribune}}</ref>

Spokane and the Spokane Police Department have received national publicity and scrutiny in the 2000s and 2010s due to many [[List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States|officer-involved shootings]] and allegations of excessive force. The most high-profile of these incidents was the 2006 [[death of Otto Zehm]], a mentally challenged man who was initially suspected of theft at a convenience store.<ref>{{cite news |last=Clouse |first=Thomas |date=May 31, 2006 |title=Zehm death a homicide |url=http://www.spokesman.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=133348 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626033342/http://www.spokesman.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=133348 |archive-date=June 26, 2008 |access-date=November 21, 2014 |newspaper=The Spokesman-Review}}</ref> Zehm was later found to have committed no crime, but was struck with batons by several officers and tasered.<ref>{{cite news |last=Geranios |first=Nicholas |date=November 16, 2012 |title=Otto Zehm Beating: Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. Sentenced In Death Of Man With Mental Disabilities |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/aug/22/police-chief-touts-progress-on-use-of-force |access-date=November 21, 2014 |work=The Huffington Post}}</ref> The increased pressure on the SPD prompted an independent review by a commission of the organization's use-of-force policies, an internal culture audit, and the purchase of [[body camera]]s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Deshais |first=Nicholas |date=August 22, 2013 |title=Police chief touts progress on Use of Force recommendations |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/aug/22/police-chief-touts-progress-on-use-of-force |access-date=November 21, 2014 |newspaper=The Spokesman-Review}}</ref>