Legislation could halt Granite's police force

He said the charging of officer Richard Todd Rasmussen in the shooting this week convinced him to go forward, both over concern about police activities and how such might increase costs amid tight education budgets.

Holdaway said managers of a state insurance pool told him the incident with Rasmussen is making them reconsider their longtime practice of not charging Granite higher premium rates than other districts, despite its operating a police department and risking more lawsuits because of heavy-duty police work.

Earlier this month in a News Extra examining the benefits and risks of the department, district officials defended the department — but others said city and county police could do the same work and avoid the higher financial risk from lawsuits that the department brings.

For example, County Sheriff Aaron Kennard asked, "Why would Granite want to take on that liability instead of police departments? It just takes one bad shooting for all the costs you think you have saved to go out the window" because of lawsuits.

However, Ronnenkamp said extra police presence by the department has cut vandalism and theft so much through the years that it alone "has almost paid for the police department."

He said having police work closely with schools has also thwarted several school shootings.

While the department says schools are its focus, it has made news for incidents either outside its boundaries or only marginally involving schools — such as the October chase and shooting in Salt Lake City, which began when officers staked out a home, seeking a suspect in school burglaries.

Another incident was a high-speed chase in 2001 that injured seven people, including three bystanders, in South Salt Lake. A Granite officer pursued a car seen near Granite High School after discovering it had a stolen license plate. Both Salt Lake City and South Salt Lake have policies banning high-speed pursuits for such crimes.

Another was a 1999 shooting when two Granite officers and two sheriff's deputies killed a man who reached for a shotgun after a chase ended on I-215 in Murray. It began in West Jordan (also outside the district) when a Granite officer spotted a car that matched one sought by West Jordan police for an armed robbery. The shooting was ruled as justified.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com