Spokane City Council eyes two options for arresting those in parks after dark

The Spokane City Council has deferred a vote on competing ordinances that would allow police to arrest people who are in city parks after hours, but differed on what conditions would have to be met before an arrest could be made.

A vote on either ordinance is not expected until the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting on June 26.

It is against city law to be in Riverfront Park between midnight and 6 a.m., or 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for all other city parks. Violating the rule is a civil infraction with no threat of jail time. Police and Spokane Park Board officials have requested that the City Council increase the penalty to a misdemeanor, providing officers with the authority to arrest violators.

“We need to gain control of the parks,” police Cpt. Thomas Hendren told the City Council in early May, citing concerns about groups engaging in violent and other illegal activities overnight at local parks.

Parks Director Garrett Jones and Hendren pointed to recent vandalism – which Jones said amounted to $164,000 in facility damages in a six-month period – and shootings in the parks in 2022, including one fatality. In particular, Hendren said large groups in city parks gathering after hours have been the primary source of the violence.

An ordinance proposed by Council President Breean Beggs would allow police to arrest someone and charge them with a misdemeanor for being in the parks after hours, but only after an initial warning. He has expressed concern that the law would be enforced against people in the parks incidentally, including those walking their dogs or who are passing through instead of walking around the boundary of the park.

Hendren argued that this was unworkable, however, because people would still gather in the parks knowing that they wouldn’t have to leave until they had been warned.

“These people that we’re dealing with, involved in these groups, are often very violent, very dangerous,” Hendren said. “I can’t send just one or two officers to give them a warning; they will challenge us.”

The threat of an immediate arrest, on the other hand, would deter groups from gathering in the first place, Hendren argued. Hendren insisted the police do not want to make arrests unless necessary and argued officers would exercise discretion in the case of a midnight dogwalker. However, he added he didn’t believe “there’s any good reason for anybody to be in the park after 11 o’clock at night.”

A last-minute amendment introduced to Beggs’ ordinance Tuesday afternoon by Councilman Zack Zappone further restricts when police could arrest people in the parks after hours. Arrests would only be allowed for those gathering in groups of five or more, and only between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Beggs noted the autonomous Park Board is the only authority allowed to set when city parks are open to the public, but Zappone’s amendment would limit when a violator could face criminal consequences.

“I had a discussion with Zappone about these groups, and five was a number we came up with,” Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson said. “If it’s two or three, possibly one officer can handle that, but when it’s five or more, that’s more challenging.”

“We don’t need to worry about one person or two people walking through the park, but if there are five or more people gathering, then there’s more possibility about illegal behavior,” she added.

Councilwoman Lori Kinnear raised questions about whether a prohibition that referenced the size of a group could violate the First Amendment right to assembly. Councilwoman Karen Stratton initially called on City Attorney Lynden Smithson to weigh in, though Beggs interjected to suggest the conversation take place behind closed doors during an executive session.

Beggs’ ordinance also removes language in city code regarding the use of drugs and alcohol in parks, and repeals the city’s recently passed local prohibition on the possession or public use of illegal drugs. Due to the Washington legislature passing a statewide law on the possession and public use of illegal drugs, the local laws were either superseded or no longer necessary, Beggs argued.

An alternative proposed by council members Jonathan Bingle, Michael Cathcart and Karen Stratton would not require a warning prior to arrest.

Councilwomen Kinnear and Betsy Wilkerson introduced a third ordinance Monday afternoon that separates the repeal of local drug laws from the after-hours ordinance, in the interest of simplicity and in the event Beggs’ ordinance fails to pass.

This story was changed on June 14, 2023, to correct information about the alternative proposed by Bingle, Cathcart and Stratton. That version would not repeal city drug possession and public drug use laws.