Unified Police Department
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Mayor’s Report/UPD
Published: Oct. 2009
The Unified Police Department will be born January 1, 2010. A quarter million residents of Salt Lake valley will be served by a new police force. I have been honored to serve as the Chair of the UPD transition committee along with Mayor Dennis Webb of Holladay serving as vice chair.
Public Safety is the number one priority for every governmental entity, federal, state or local. The creation of the UPD is another step in providing the highest level of police protection for citizens living in unincorporated areas and cities served by the Sheriff.
The UPD will replace the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s patrol services. As it is currently formulated, the UPD will serve townships and unincorporated areas plus the cities of Bluffdale (which is considering other options), Herriman, Holladay and Riverton. The UPD will also provide limited pooled services to Taylorsville, including SWAT, narcotics and gang prevention.
Mayors of the member cities will join representatives from the unincorporated county as the UPD’s board of directors setting policy and budgets. The Sheriff will be the chief operating officer and run day-to-day police operations.
This transformation has been a long time coming. Former Sheriff Aaron Kennard joined Sheriff Jim Winder last month before the Salt Lake County Council to report that groundwork for the UPD started more than a decade and a half ago.
The expertise and experience of the Sheriff’s Office means that police services will continue at its same high level. One major difference is that municipalities will become full partners and part owners of equipment traditionally owned by the county.
Great credit goes to Sheriff Winder, Mayors Lynn Crane of Herriman, Dennis Webb of Holladay, Bill Applegarth of Riverton and Claudia Anderson of Bluffdale Mayor Russ Wall of Taylorsville and our Salt Lake County Council members for their efforts directed at bringing the UPD to fruition.
In the years since the Salt Lake County Fire Department became the Unified Fire Authority/Unified Fire District, we learned that consolidation of services and providing ownership and policy responsibility to member cities creates a positive environment built on trust and common needs.
The Unified Police District will serve 250,000 residents with 339 officers on an annual operating budget of $45.3 million.
The new board guarantees local control under the power sharing agreement. The UPD provides a framework for future police services in our county. We are proud of our Sheriff’s Office and, starting next year, we will be proud of the Unified Police Department.