Spokane police chief ordered officers not to work with FBI after June 11 protest

SPD and other agencies arrested dozens of protesters on June 11 and the days following for failure to disperse and unlawful imprisonment. Former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart issued a call to action earlier that day, hoping to prevent federal authorities from transferring a migrant to Tacoma.

Stuckart and others surrounded a transport van at a U.S. Department of Homeland Security facility in Spokane. According to a federal indictment, they slashed the van’s tires with a box cutter and blocked federal agents from leaving the property, with at least two people allegedly assaulting federal officers. 

“Any suggestion that SPD failed to cooperate with other law enforcement partners is incorrect,” Hall wrote in response to several questions from The Center Square on Tuesday. “Our actions reflected due diligence, not disengagement, and thoughtful critical decision making, not politicized policing.”

The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice told The Center Square that federal officials are unable to comment due to the ongoing government shutdown. Spokane Police Guild President Dave Dunkin told The Center Square that his association is also unable to comment, but did not explain the reasoning.

Hall said he alone issued the directive about working with the FBI, but framed it as a temporary hold of evidentiary materials. According to police reports, SPD contacted DHS on June 12 to see if there was a federal investigation into the protest from the day before, “as is standard protocol for deconfliction.”

DHS signaled that the FBI would take the lead, so officer Tim Schwering contacted the bureau about his own investigation. The FBI requested several phones that SPD seized, so Schwering facilitated the transfer before SPD Capt. Tracie Meidl relayed Hall’s orders not to share information with the bureau.

“I was concerned that the order to not work with the FBI in this case was a potential unlawful order as it would be obstructing a federal criminal investigation,” Schwering wrote. “Lt. BOOTHE concurred with my assessment and instructed me to keep working the investigation, while staying within state laws.”

Schwering said that in all of his career, no one had ever ordered him not to work with the FBI. Hall’s directive also prohibited SPD from sharing police reports and body-camera footage with the FBI. The chief said his intent was never to restrict cooperation, but rather to ensure compliance with state law.

The Keep Washington Work Act essentially prohibits local law enforcement agencies from using their resources to assist federal immigration authorities. Hall said his directives, including the order to route charges to the AGO, allowed SPD to verify that it wasn’t opening the door to lawsuits against the city.

"I just wanted to make sure you still wanted the charges to go through the AG' s Office in lieu of the County Prosecutor's Office?" Meidl emailed Hall on June 18. "Stuckart could be in violation of RCW 9A.28.040 - Criminal Conspiracy that would require further investigation; however, per Mayor Brown's statement, she had put Mr Stuckart in contact with Nick Brown, the Washington State Attorney General ... Not sure if that could be a potential conflict with that office on any felony charges with Mr. Stuckart."

Hall said SPD confirmed the county prosecutor as the proper venue after consulting the city attorney.

"Also, can you please let me know when you're done with the investigation on Stuckart?" Meidl emailed Schwering June 18 after talking to Hall. "The Chief asked for a heads up on that one before you send it."

According to the police reports, Meidl told Schwering on June 19 that Hall had rescinded the directives and that he could now speak with the federal government about the investigation. Less than a month later, the FBI and other agencies arrested nine individuals, including Stuckart, on federal charges.

“In the end, the FBI received all materials relevant to its investigation,” Hall told The Center Square. 

According to the police reports, Spokane County Prosecutor Preston McCollam contacted Schwering on June 14 via email. McCollam said he was “disappointed” to hear about Hall’s directive not to work with the FBI and reminded Schwering that it is a crime for SPD to obstruct a federal criminal investigation.

“I have never experienced such directive[s] from a law enforcement agency, nor have I ever heard of a law enforcement agency actively seeking to circumvent the county prosecutor,” McCollam told The Center Square. “Asking officers to refer charges directly to the attorney general is inconsistent with state law, absent an affirmative written request from the governor of the state or from the county prosecutor.”

McCollam told The Center Square there aren’t any provisions in the Keep Washington Working Act or the Courts Open to All Act that support either of Hall’s commands. He argued the FBI “is clearly not a federal immigration enforcement agency that is subject to the act,” and said the laws aren’t confusing.

“The federal investigation was into the assault, unlawful imprisonment, intimidation of federal officers and any potential conspiracy to complete the aforementioned crimes — NOT the civil enforcement of federal immigration law which is what KWW and COTA are concerned with,” McCollam wrote Wednesday.

Mayor Lisa Brown held a press conference with Hall the night of June 11 and confirmed that she had spoken to Stuckart over the phone that day. According to records obtained by The Center Square, he texted Brown’s personal cellphone at 2:48 p.m., asking her to stop SPD from arresting the protesters.

She said they “discussed legal assistance” on a call before contacting Attorney General Nick Brown to “investigate options” and connect him with Stuckart. AGO Deputy Communications Director Mike Faulk told The Center Square that the call was to help de-escalate the situation and was unrelated to charges.

“We have not been asked to review any cases nor have we asked to be involved,” Faulk said Tuesday.

Spokane Communications Director Erin Hut sent The Center Square a screenshot of the mayor’s texts with Stuckart on June 11, but it was cropped to only show his messages. Upon request, Hut sent another picture showing Brown’s entire screen in an attempt to verify that these were the only texts.

Hut denied any involvement from the mayor’s office regarding Hall’s directives. After the FBI arrested Stuckart and others on July 15, Brown issued a statement calling the arrests “politically motivated.”

Brown and the council’s progressive majority have not strayed away from criticizing President Donald Trump, especially regarding his immigration policies, since he won the 2024 election. The council has passed measures in the last year to ban federal agents from certain events and reaffirm the KWWA.

Councilmember Paul Dillon even ripped up a memo on the dais in February, calling it “an empty scare tactic,” after the DOJ threatened to withhold funding from cities interfering with federal law enforcement. 

While some residents have praised the mayor and council’s resistance to the Trump administration, others have warned that these political statements could cost taxpayers police funding in the future.

According to reporting by The Center Square, the City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed all misdemeanor charges against the June 11 protesters. City Prosecutor Justin Bingham said his office has hundreds of hours of body camera footage to review and hopes to refile charges within the statute of limitations.

“There is nobody from the mayor’s office or from SPD that has told me that we should not proceed on these cases,” Bingham told The Center Square. “There’s no difference between the approach of Mayor Brown’s administration than Mayor Woodward’s administration — both have been very supportive.”