On the evening of January 28, Spokane health care workers and activists marched from Riverfront Park to the county courthouse to honor Alex Pretti, the nurse Border Patrol agents executed on a Minneapolis street last month.
Once the march reached the courthouse, the crowd fanned out on the lawn in front of the large wooden doors on the south end of the building. A pair of men stood on the lawn by the western edge of the crowd. Local open government activist Jim Leighty heard the men before he saw them. They spoke in a lingo and cadence he was familiar with from years of police accountability work. “Even when they’re out of uniform,” Leighty said, “cops sound like cops.”
He turned to see if he knew them.
Leighty said the first thing he noticed were the gaiter masks covering the men’s faces. They were wearing generic-looking tactical clothing with no insignia or other visible law enforcement markings. This kind of gear has been common in civilian gun culture for years. More recently it has emerged as an emblem of federal agents deployed to American cities as part of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on immigration.
Because their faces were covered and they were not wearing uniforms, there was no way to tell who they were: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents? Vigilantes?
When Leighty saw the men, he told RANGE, “I thought they were ICE.”
So he called the SPD dialogue team, a unit Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall created that tries to keep protest environments safe by communicating with protest organizers and deescalating tense situations. The team gave him some information he was not expecting: they were not ICE agents. Neither were they vigilantes.
They were Spokane city police officers. This was suspicious: the Spokane Police Department (SPD) prohibits its officers from wearing face coverings when doing normal police work.
The dialogue team “said they would take care of it, and they did,” Leighty said. “They didn’t waste any time.”
Just after the team responded to him, the men were gone.
Hall issued a statement late February 2 assuming full responsibility for the incident, which he characterized as a “mistake” due to cold weather.
The “officers were inadvertently assigned to walk with a group of demonstrators, unbeknownst to the Incident Commander overseeing the event,” Hall wrote. “Because of the cold, the officers and many others present wore face masks. When their presence was noticed, uniformed Dialogue officers immediately removed the plainclothes officers from the area.”
Hall went on to say the men would not have been allowed at the scene if the incident commander had known about them and sympathized with people who were upset at their presence.
“The use of face coverings also showed disregard for real, current concerns about police officers covering their faces, especially during First Amendment-protected activity,” he wrote. “I know this incident hurt public trust. Rebuilding trust requires honesty, accountability, and transparency, especially when we fail. I am committed to that work and to learning from this mistake as we move forward together.”
Read Hall’s SPD-wide email and full statement at the bottom of this story.
SPD’s anti-masking rule has been in place for months. In the wake of the June 11 protests at the ICE facility on Cataldo Avenue that became one of the biggest Spokane stories of 2025, Hall gave an exclusive interview to RANGE, during which he stated, “My officers will not wear masks. They will not.”
The incident was disturbing enough to Hall that he felt the need to clarify the department’s mask policy. The day after the march, on January 30, he sent an email to the entire department saying “To be unequivocally clear: face coverings or masks of any kind are prohibited for on-duty Spokane Police Department personnel, regardless of assignment or duties (underline Hall’s).”
After the march, in remarks to the Spokane Public Safety & Community Health Committee on February 2, Hall said “it won’t happen again.” in remarks to the Spokane Public Safety & Community Health Committee on February 2.
“They were seen, they were identified. I’ll take full accountability for that. I didn’t know the officers were there. The incident commander didn’t know the officers were there. That communication gap is my responsibility,” Hall continued. “We made it very clear to every single member of the police department — all 454 of them — what the expectations are when it comes to wearing face coverings.”
There are some legitimate uses of face coverings in police work, such as when police might encounter dangerous fumes and need a gas mask. But Hall wrote in his email to his employees that even in these circumstances, officers must get written permission to cover their faces.
Neither are SPD officers supposed to be in plain clothes during demonstrations. In our July conversation, Hall outlined the reason why: it undercuts the dialogue team. “[We’re] embedding uniformed police officers — not undercover officers — into these crowds at these protests,” Hall said, not to intimidate or to gather intel on possible wrong-doing, but “to create dialogue, to have a chat, and get the vibe of the crowd. It starts before the protest even begins. They contact the organizers and they say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be there. We’d like to help facilitate this and make sure it’s safe for everybody.’”
City of Spokane spokesperson Erin Hut told RANGE the officers were on duty at the protest. It’s not clear if they were disciplined for wearing masks. It’s also unclear whether — hypothetically — SPD could discipline off-duty officers attending a rally dressed as civilians.
With 2026 just under way and the threat of federal incursions increasing, these nuances are important to clarify.
From Leighty’s perspective, “If they were off-duty, I think that’s worse,” and could be interpreted as intimidation.
And regardless of whether they were dispatched, Leighty said, showing up in tactical gear and gaiters to a protest demonstrates bad judgement.
“At a vigil where the big concern is masked individuals working for the government who executed a person,” Leighty said, “it’s in very poor taste to show up as a person working for the government wearing a mask.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall.
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Chief Hall’s complete email to SPD staff
From: “Hall, Kevin” <khall@spokanepolice.org>
Date: January 30, 2026 at 7:27:05 PM PST
To: All Police <AllPolice@spokanecity.org>
Cc: “Yates, Maggie” <myates@spokanecity.org>, “Duggan, Andi” <aduggan@spokanecity.org>
Subject: Clarification on Face Covering Policy
Team,
I want to clarify our expectations regarding face coverings and acknowledge that prior guidance on this issue was not communicated as clearly or consistently as it should have been. That responsibility rests with me.
To be unequivocally clear: face coverings or masks of any kind are prohibited for on-duty Spokane Police Department personnel, regardless of assignment or duties, with the sole exception of surgical or N95 masks worn for legitimate medical reasons, such as illness or immune-compromised conditions.
Any deviation from this policy must be approved in advance, in writing, by an Assistant Chief and include documented justification. No other exceptions are authorized. This policy does not apply to the appropriate use of gas masks or respirators when operationally required.
This message is intended to remove any ambiguity and ensure consistent understanding across the organization. I take full responsibility for ensuring this expectation is clearly set and uniformly enforced going forward, and it will be.
Thank you for your professionalism and attention to this matter.
Kevin Hall
Kevin Hall | Chief of Police | Spokane Police Department
Chief Hall’s full statement to the press
“On Wednesday, January 28, two plainclothes officers were inadvertently assigned to walk with a group of demonstrators, unbeknownst to the Incident Commander overseeing the event. Because of the cold, the officers and many others present wore face masks. When their presence was noticed, uniformed Dialogue officers immediately removed the plainclothes officers from the area.
“The mistake was a failure by one chain of command to inform the event commander about the plainclothes officers. The commander would have refused their presence. The use of face coverings also showed disregard for real, current concerns about police officers covering their faces, especially during First Amendment-protected activity.
“I want to be clear: I take responsibility for what occurred. My expectations and direction regarding face coverings and transparent policing of public demonstrations were not communicated clearly or consistently as they should have been. That is on me.
“Since this incident, I have directed all Spokane Police Department employees to follow clear, consistent guidelines for face coverings on all assignments. I informed agency commanders how to police public demonstrations and what resources to use, emphasizing public trust and transparency.
“I know this incident hurt public trust. Rebuilding trust requires honesty, accountability, and transparency, especially when we fail. I am committed to that work and to learning from this mistake as we move forward together.”
