ST. GEORGE — Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. seized the opportunity Wednesday to thank Utah's law enforcement community for willingly taking on a dangerous profession.

"When you walk out that door, we know you have someone on the other side wondering if you'll come back home," Huntsman said in his keynote speech during the Utah Chiefs of Police Association convention at the Dixie Center.

"You always leave a feeling of uncertainty behind. You stare down uncertainty everyday. I'm here to say 'thank you' from our state's 2.7 million citizens."

Utahns today are living in a prosperous time for the state, he added.

"We have seen record growth. We now have 2.3 percent unemployment, which is to say if you want to work you can get a job," Huntsman said. "The economy has allowed us to make record expenditure for education, a 23 percent increase in funding for our public schools."

But Utah isn't without its problems, the governor added.

"I'm of the distinct impression that we have a serious drug problem in the state. We have got to get to the root of it." Putting more money into an awareness campaign about the dangers of methamphetamine will help educate the public, he said. The campaign will educate people in a graphic sense about an illegal drug that Huntsman called "this most dangerous of drugs."

"We don't have the depth of understanding we need to know what young people are going through today," he said. "We need to get smarter about drugs and I hope you'll help us with that. The old way was to lock someone up and throw away the key. Their life was over. I think we need to start thinking differently."

The governor noted that 117 American flags representing officers killed in the line of duty were planted along a sidewalk leading to the doors of the Dixie Center.

"This is a reminder that your profession is not without risk," he told the more than 200 law enforcement officers and others in attendance.

The governor said one of those flags was flying in memory of Nolan Huntsman, a distant relative and law enforcement officer who was killed during a shootout in 1924.

"Every time you put on a uniform, you are a hero. Kids look up to you. That uniform is a powerful thing," he said. "Thank you for proudly carrying the title of hero."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com