Police Department

2022 Commendations

We are fortunate to have tremendous community support for our police department. We don't take your appreciation lightly. Every month many of you take the time to write, phone, email or deliver to SPD a thank you for various encounters with our police officers. We know it takes time and effort to submit a commendation. They are shared with the SPD family and on this page you will find them shared with the public as well. Some commendations may have been edited for a number of reasons including: to protect victim information, to ensure citizen privacy, and/or to shorten content or remove non-pertinent content.

The number of commendations SPD receives consistently outnumbers the number of complaints we receive. In 2022, SPD received three times more commendations from the community than complaints. SPD received 231 commendations and 74 complaints generated from community members. (Of the 89 total complaints, 15 were Internal complaints.)

Messages from the Community

Officer Derek Jones is an awesome and caring officer. My son has a mental illness, and Officer D. Jones came in and handled the job amazingly. I just wanted to give props to D. Jones. He is awesome. A very good person I can tell. You should give him an award. The way he handled my disabled son, a lot of cops couldn't do it. And I just want you to tell him thank you for me. —P.L.

Kudos to your Spokane patrol who responded to my friend’s home [Officers Jordan Schott, Kolton McKitrick, and Ben Manning] when her son had a very violent reaction to Oxycodone after returning home from the hospital following surgery for a shattered shin. She was very impressed with how the officers handled and deescalated the situation with a very out of control violent 16-year-old who was saying horrible things to and about law enforcement in general. The officers convinced the teen to calm down enough to transfer him back to the children’s hospital. If you are able to pass along the kudos that would be great! —A.B.

I extend my personal gratitude to you as the police chief and all the men and women of the Spokane Police Department who put on the uniform every day to keep Spokane safe for the good people of the city and most especially for my loved ones who still live in the area. God bless and be safe. —R.P.

There was a situation with my son in which three of your wonderful officers responded [Officer Michele Kernkamp, Reid Carrell]. Not only did they respond with care, they responded with love and understanding and compassion and it made it so much easier and they found my son. So, I can’t tell you, my heart is just warmed with their professionalism. They found my son at Inland Behavioral Health; he had checked himself in. Please commend the officers for me. —K.G.

Chief Meidl,
My wife and I would like to extend a heart-felt thank you to Officers Paulie Mead, Makalia McKitrick, and Chaplain ChineIle Flood for their professionalism in carrying out their duties; to notify us of the sudden and tragic death of our twenty-year-old daughter, as the result of an automobile accident in Montana. It was shocking and devasting news to our family. It was obviously a difficult task for them to carry out. Yet they carried it out with tender kindness and compassion. They phoned the coroner to obtain answers to our questions. Chaplain Flood contacted the U.S. Navy chaplain in California to provide notification to our son, and to arrange for his emergency leave and travel home. Officer Mead drove me to Airway Heights and then to Cheney searching for my son, so that I could provide him in-person notification. Officer Mead then drove us both back to our home in Spokane. Officer McKitrick stayed with my wife, along with Chaplain Flood, to ensure her immediate needs were met while I was gone with Officer Mead. Chaplain Flood later mailed to us a card with tender and comforting prayers. After they left us, we started planning our daughter’s funeral and the long difficult task of grieving the loss of our daughter and re-building our futures without her. Although the memory of that morning will forever be seared into our minds, the compassion and human decency extended to us by these outstanding representatives of the Spokane Police Department during the worst moment of our lives, will never be forgotten. Thank you for sending them to us. —P.K.

Officer [Tim] Schwering is the best. He’s giving our neighborhood hope!! Yay!!!! Thank you. —D.E.

To all of our awesome police officers, I want to express my gratitude and deep appreciation for your service to our community. Most Spokane residents strongly agree. I can't even imagine the horrific things you see and have to deal with day and night. I'm too chicken to do your job. I am terrified that police will be defunded in Spokane. I always feel safer when I see a police officer driving or walking down the street. I am sad that too often your hands are tied, so to speak, regarding what you are allowed to do in your efforts to defend and protect us. Having said all of this, I want to thank you for your service. —D.D.

Hi Mickey [Chaplain Mickey Tuter],
I wanted to say thank you! You helped my niece and I after my sister’s death before Thanksgiving. I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciated your help that very tragic and hard day. —K.Z.

Thank you and great work on apprehending this creep so quickly! Appreciate your efforts in keeping us safe at Manito Park. Many of us use that Park daily and have always felt safe until these attacks. Thank you to all involved! You are appreciated more than you know! —S.R.

Thank you for your prompt and professional kindness in doing a wellness check for our family on New Year’s Day. We were unable to reach our sister in Spokane for three months by phone or text, and then not getting a Christmas card and checking with other family members, we knew something wasn't right. You were able to get back to us in 15 minutes and handled the situation with thoughtfulness and caring. Kind deed appreciated. Please pass on our appreciation. —K.L.

Officer Tim Schwering, Everyone around the neighborhood appreciates what you're doing. Thank you. —E.S.

A man stopped by the front desk. He said this past Saturday he was really cold and trying to get somewhere. He could not remember any of the 3 officers names but was really thankful for the officers he dealt with because they were really professional and helpful and got him to a safe place where he could warm up. [Officers Taylor Johnson, Juan Ruiz, Adam Anderson and Anthony Inman.]

Officer [Tyson] Setzler,
Thank you for taking the time to help me and keeping my son and I safe. I truly felt that you cared and were understanding to my situation. Our community is blessed to have you. —C.O.

We wanted to thank Officer [Ben] Fuson for coming over to discuss a heated situation with neighbor kids. We wanted him to know that the young teen actually walked over to our house and apologized for threatening us. There is hope for humanity! —C.H.

I wanted to let you know that Officer [Seth] Berrow stopped by today and did a walk around the property. We chatted about the theft and some of his recommendations. He said he will follow up with his recommendation in writing. I appreciate his follow up and wanted to let someone know. If there is anyone else in his chain of command that would be appropriate to give feedback on his attentiveness, please let me know so I can do that. I enjoy it when I can give positive feedback as most people only share the negative. Thanks again for all you do! —L.L.

SPD Chaplains,
As I was reviewing the various community partner events in October, I wanted to send you a note. The ball was a huge success. It got me thinking about how far the Spokane Police Chaplaincy has developed under your leadership. Often as leaders we do not get feedback about how we are doing. I wanted to let you know I have seen a huge shift in culture and the standards of the chaplains group rise in terms of a positive culture and professionalism under your leadership. We have nothing but positive feedback from families and staff about the interactions with our chaplains. [Chaplains Mickey Tuter and Kevin Piatt] You and Kevin make a great team. The chemistry and synergy is positive. We are so lucky to have you as community partners helping our community during a terrible time. You are doing a great job. Please let us know how we can help you. We look forward to our continued partnership. —S.W.

Officer Micah Prim was amazing during Lunch with a Cop. He went above and beyond the call of duty with the twins celebrating their 5th birthday. —M.E.

Read More

• Commendations – January-June 2022 (PDF 241 KB)
• Commendations – July-December 2022 (PDF 245 KB)