SPOKANE, Wash – According to a recent report from the Spokane Police Department, reported crimes are down in Spokane. However, the County Prosecutor’s Office believes things aren’t as rosy as that number makes it seem. The prosecutor’s office and the Spokane Police Department said they’re short on resources. For the prosecutor’s office, that means cases need to be prioritized.
Preston McCollam, the Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor, and Catherine McNulty, the Assistant Chief Deputy Prosecutor for Spokane County, said prosecuting offices across the nation are feeling staffing shortages, and Spokane County is no exception.
“Frankly, we just don’t have enough deputy prosecutors in Spokane right now, and we need more.”
McCollam told NonStopLocal they are down nine attorneys just in the criminal division. McNulty said that can delay justice.
“The longer those vacancies are open, the fewer cases are being processed,” said McNulty.
McCollam said he believed a large portion of the issue is compensation: ” We’re in a position where, as a county in particular, our compensation philosophy is not keeping pace with reality.”
He added that in Spokane County, the entry-level pay for attorneys in his department was $63,000 a year, which he said has only increased by $9,000 in the last decade.
“It’s frustrating to me as a prosecutor who this is my career, this is why I want to do and I can’t do some of those things simply because of staffing,” said McCollam
For comparison, he said the pay in Kootenai County is around $15,000 to $20,000 more than in Spokane County, making it difficult to recruit.
Despite the lack of attorneys, their caseloads aren’t getting any lighter, “having been in this office for ten years, we feel busier than ever, and it feels like our resources are more taxed than ever,” said McNulty.
Although McCollam said they have hired four new attorneys, their Washington bar results are still pending. However, he added that with the sheer level of their caseload, it’s a drop in the bucket.
“Even if we were fully staffed, it would be extremely challenging to reach the needs of the community.”
McCollam said attorneys in his unit are averaging around 100 cases: “That’s an astronomical amount of cases.”
He expressed that just 30 miles away in Kootenai County, prosecutors are averaging 30 – 50 cases in some units. Like many law enforcement agencies in the county, they have been forced to triage due to a lack of resources.
“We’re trying to take the resources we do have and put those towards the cases that need the most attention,” said McNulty.
The situation has pushed them to have an open dialogue with law enforcement about the backlog they are facing in their Office.
“I’ve been letting law enforcement know, hey, it’s not for a lack of trying, but we don’t have the staffing to address a lot of these things,” said McCollam.
Lt. Terry Preuninger from the Spokane Police Department said it’s important for all law enforcement departments to work together to try to bridge the gap. ” We do communicate well with each other, and those conversations help us maximize what resources we do have.”
McCollam hopes that residents don’t get discouraged and give up on the system. ” This is something that we care about in Spokane: public safety, community safety, and we need to take whatever steps we can to address this issue.”
