SALT LAKE CITY — Policing in Salt Lake County could look a little different in the next couple of years. On Thursday morning, Sheriff Rosie Rivera formally announced her intent to leave the Unified Police Department at the board meeting – a move prompted by new legislation.
House Bill 327 was signed into law by Gov. Cox on Tuesday. “What this bill means just on the surface level, is that this is going to remove the Sheriff and make UPD communities go back to the drawing board about how we want to see policing in our communities,” said Marcus Stevenson, UPD board chair and Midvale City Mayor.
Bill Sponsor, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan said the bill addresses the conflict of interest with a county sheriff also being the CEO of a police entity, and issues with double taxation. But Mayor Stevenson says this legislation puts the department in a tough spot.
“This is going to have huge impacts in our communities,” said Stevenson. “This is creating concerns with our officers, with our residents, and to me, it’s just a huge overreach that we saw from the state, unfortunately.”
According to the bill passed, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s office has till July of 2025 to separate from UPD. But the UPD board says they want that to happen by July of 2024, which gives them time to make sure everything runs smoothly for officers and the public.
“My intent was to provide a notice of intent to withdraw from the Unified Police Department, for Salt Lake county to withdraw December 31 of 2024. But listening to what you have to say today," said Sheriff Rivera at the UPD board meeting Thursday morning. "We want it done sooner, we could change the date to July 2024, if that works best for you because we want to work with you.”
Rep. Teuscher said the goal of his bill is to increase transparency and empower the sheriff and local communities. “We’ll have more overlap now as the county sheriff has her own deputies to patrol the entire county and ensure that the county is safe and reach her priorities and objectives. We’re going to have the opportunity to ensure that people can get the right kind of policing services they want.”
With questions about the reorganization left to be answered over the next months and years.
“There’s a huge question, will the county council be involved, if they’re not able to be involved then that implies a lot on the townships. If townships aren’t involved, that means it’s just the three standing cities, and then is it financially viable for the three cities?” explained Mayor Stevenson.
UPD currently serves Midvale, Millcreek, Holladay, Kearns, Magna, Copperton, White City, Brighton, Emigration Canyon and Salt Lake County. Mayor Stevenson added that by July of this year, they hope to hear from every community about what their policing plan is going forward, to determine what the new UPD structure might look like.
But the bottom line that officials want to emphasize is that law enforcement tasked with keeping people safe isn’t going away. There will still be police – just organized a little differently.
“Regardless of what the new structure looks like, what different communities are choosing to do within the next two years, policing in communities will be happening. I want to make sure that every resident knows that public safety will be in place,” said Stevenson.
