SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels is unhappy with media coverage of recent police shootings across Spokane and has jumped to the defense of the actions of law enforcement.
The Spokane Police Department (SPD) and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office have used lethal force several times in the last two weeks.
On Feb. 12, police shot and killed Eric Cid after he allegedly brandished a gun at a woman. In a separate police shooting that same day, a man was killed by police downtown after police say he reached for a knife with which he had been threatening pedestrians.
As noted by the Spokesman-Review, there have been more police shootings in the county over a two-week span this February than in the entirety of 2023.
The sheriff argued that legislative and media reaction to the shootings has been unfairly critical of law enforcement.
“The conversations that it has prompted in the community in some media outlets, in the legislature–my concern is that we’re losing sight of some of the important facts to talk about,” Nowels said.
Nowels voiced concern that activists who he characterized as anti-police were influencing the public safety conversation in Spokane.
“The focus seems to be on how can we fix the police and their responses to these people,” Nowels said.
The sheriff defended the actions of officers and deputies, and argued that lethal force was only used as a last resort in the police shootings which took place over the last week.
He asserted that the Washington State Legislature has irresponsibly pursued policies which he views as too restrictive of law enforcement following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the resulting national protests.
“There was this false narrative that was presented to the country that police were covering things up and that the police can’t be trusted,” Nowels said.
Derek Chauvin, one of the officers involved in George Floyd’s death, was sentenced to over two decades in prison for second-degree murder.
The sheriff argued that community alternatives to incarceration have contributed to recent lethal uses of force by police.
“They are providing less restrictive alternatives and putting people out on the street who clearly don’t belong out there,” Nowels said.
He argued that more mental health resources need to be available to those in crisis across the county to avoid continued violence across the region.
Nowels was elected sheriff in 2022 and has periodically waded into political arguments about policing since beginning his tenure as a local law enforcement leader.
