MOUNT PLEASANT, Utah — Two Utah police departments are merging after their leaders acknowledged staffing concerns that have led to gaps in coverage. The Mount Pleasant Police Department announced Sunday it will be merging with the Fairview Police Department to create the new North Valley Police Department.
According to the department's Facebook page, in March, both departments had officers injured on the job, leaving them shorthanded. At the time, the departments agreed to assist each other while the officers were out.
The Mount Pleasant Police Department acknowledged in their post that the current situation meant there were times when an officer wasn't on the job during portions of the day. "Both cities will now have 24 coverage meaning no officers will be on call they will be at a minimum 1 officer on at all time," Chief Steve Gray wrote. "That may surprise some of you that we actually have not been 24 hours a day but we wanted that secret to not be out there."
However, according to the department, the situation worked so well that the cities decided to start talks to merge both police departments. What followed were multiple meetings between the cities to create the North Valley Police Department.
The official start of the new department is July 1. Officials say the new department was funded fully through the two cities' existing budgets.
In the meantime, officials say you can expect to see Mount Pleasant Police Department cars and officers in Fairview and Fairview Police Department cars and officers in Mount Pleasant. The department says that this will be a temporary situation until the car and uniform changes can be made.
Another change coming from the merger is that the new department will be able to have a full-time school resource officer for the area's schools. Another change will be a full-time secretary for the department, allowing them to have office hours from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The existing office in Mount Pleasant will serve as the official police department, while the Fairview office will serve as a satellite station.
A new board was also established to oversee the North Valley Police Department. Mayor Michael Olsen and Mayor Brad Welch, and Daniel Mower are all serving on the board. However, the department says two more board members, one from each city, have yet to be sworn in.
In the North Valley Police Department, Steve Gray will serve as the Chief of Police, while Logan Ludvigon will be the Deputy Chief.
