SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that would disband the Unified Police Department passed out of a house committee Wednesday morning.
House Bill 374 would dissolve UPD in 2025 and Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera announced her support for the bill on Tuesday.
Cities covered by UPD objected to the bill, but Rivera said she won't oppose it, noting the political forces in the legislature.
Her support is reluctant, however, as the bill was progressing through the legislature regardless of her support.
Latest on the legislature: Real-time updates on 2023 Utah State Legislature
The Unified Police Department was created in 2009 and since then the agency has had a rocky history of cities that jump in and out. Some complain that when other cities leave to form their own police department, costs increase and the quality of service declines.
The bill passed on a 9-4 vote in the house committee and now goes to the full house of representatives for a vote.
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