S.L. Council welcomes Burbank as police chief

On the eve of Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse's retirement, the City Council welcomed his replacement with good-natured joking and a vote of confidence in Chris Burbank's future administration.

Burbank, who will be sworn in as chief today at 10 a.m., reassured the council that he will continue the programs that Dinse began and that led to a citywide drop in crime while focusing on new recruitment and continued vigilance to small neighborhood crimes such as car burglaries.

Burbank takes over a department that is routinely short 15 to 25 officers due to retirement and low recruiting. After filling the posts left vacant by his promotion, Burbank said that he will brief his officers on a new recruitment pamphlet and promote the department's revised Web site.

"We are never to full staffing levels," Burbank said. "Having bodies in those positions is really important."

New efforts to recruit will ripple throughout the department, including a renewed emphasis on preventing crimes by teenagers who may not realize that their illegal actions could disqualify them from jobs later in life, Burbank said. The department also will start training its own officers instead of using the state training program, which will shorten the year it now takes applicants from filing of their paperwork to swearing in, he said.

The City Council unanimously approved Burbank's appointment with much praise for his resume — including a previous career as a professional squash player — and enthusiasm for the job.

"I have to say that I looked for something negative, and I did find something negative, which is that you're younger than I am," joked Dave Buhler, council chairman.

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com