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Spokane police received more praise than complaints in 2018, report says

The Spokane Police Department received a total of 115 commendations and 89 complaints. That's about two dozen more praises from the community than complaints.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane police said they received more praise from the community, than complaints in 2018.

The Spokane Police Department recently presented a report of these numbers to the Public Safety and Community Health committee.

It shows the department received a total of 115 commendations and 89 complaints. That's about two dozen more praises from the community than complaints. 

Assistant Chief Justin Lundgren said the department appreciates both forms of feedback. 

"It helps us to recognize officers who are doing tremendous work," Assistant Chief Justin Lundgren said.

Lundgren said the department has always received commendations, but it only recently started tracking the numbers.

"The take away that maybe surprised some people was that our commendations outnumbered our complaints by such a great magnitude," Lundgren said.

The report included a few comments written for a specific officer, while others were directed to Chief Craig Meidl. 

One read, "As someone who recently interacted with your police department while in a mental health crisis, your officers acted with extreme professionalism....Thank you Spokane Police Department."

"The time that it takes for someone--out of their busy schedule-- to write the commendations, it really shows that the officers have connected with the community on some level. And that hey felt compelled to go home and take the time to write into the Chief or send an email to the department," Lundgren said.

As for the 89 complaints, we found in our previous coverage on this topic, most of them had to do with officer demeanor and response times. 

RELATED: SPD sees increase in citizen complaints about officers

"We always want to hear the community, positive or negative," Lundgren said. "It helps us to know what is going on in those interactions and it helps us to determine time when we could do something better."

Lundgren adds this feedback also helps the department to educate the public on things they might not be satisfied about, or that's out of the department's control. 

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