SPOKANE, Wash. — After months of searching, Spokane has a new police chief.
On Monday night, Spokane City Council voted to confirm Mayor Lisa Brown's appointment for the position.
The vote went in favor of the mayor's appointment, who will take over the position after former Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl resigned last year.
It did not take long for Spokane City Council to cast their votes. In a unanimous vote of all attending members, the Council confirmed Kevin Hall to the position of Spokane Police Chief. Jonathan Bingle was not at Monday night's meeting.
"Our police chief will be able to join us sooner than what we had anticipated, so we moved up his appointment process," Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson said.
Brown announced Hall as her candidate for the position last month. Hall comes to the Lilac City from the Tucson Police Department with more than 30 years of experience.
The Mayor's Office said Hall helped expand Tucson's mental health support to include homeless outreach and substance use response teams. Hall also pushed to add behavioral health clinicians to the City's 911 call center.
At a forum in June for people to meet the police chief finalists, one issue Hall believes is important to address is the screening process, particularly since each department can vary in what's accepted.
"What is your training curriculum looking like? What are your field training officers looking like? What are your sergeants looking like? All of that is going to have an impact on how that person is going to police and the self-accountability they're going to have for the rest of their career," Hall said in June.
In an interview with KREM 2 after last month's announcement, Councilmember Paul Dillon said Hall will inherit obstacles such as sky-rocketing fentanyl overdoses in the city.
Dillon echoed those thoughts during Monday night's meeting.
"We know all too well that the challenges to public safety and the city are immense," Dillon said.
Hall is set to start in his new role on Monday, August 26.