From Deseret News archives:

Text of Rocky Anderson's State of the City Address

Published: Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007 12:22 a.m. MST
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One final note regarding the amazing progress in our Police Department: Last seen alive in mid-February 1986, fourteen year old Tiffany Hambletons body was found more than a month later in a ditch near 1300 South 3600 West. She was stabbed numerous times in the upper chest and neck area. Her body was clad only in a tee shirt and socks. Eight years after Tiffanys murder, in 1994, I met Tiffanys mother, Vicki English, and her grandfather, Fran Brunyer. They related to me their heartbreak over Tiffanys murder and how their grief was magnified by the inability of police to find her killer. Not to have answers, not to have closure, and to know that the vicious killer was still free haunted Vicki and Fran every day of their lives, for years on end. I have now known Vicki and Fran for 13 years and I well know the sorrow and frustration they have lived with since Tiffanys murder 21 years ago.

Soon after I was first elected, I asked that our Police Department pursue cold homicide cases like Tiffanys in order that loved ones might find closure and that the perpetrators be brought to justice. A Cold Case Unit was formed, which has made remarkable progress over the past year in finding evidence, much of which is through new DNA technology, and making arrests. One of those arrests occurred a few days ago. It was the arrest of a man charged with the murder of Tiffany Hambleton.

After we formed the Cold Case Unit, Detectives Cordon Parks and Kelly Kent reexamined all available evidence and followed up on literally hundreds of leads. Due to the persistent, tenacious efforts of the detectives, and due to the outstanding services provided by Sorenson Forensics, it appears that Tiffanys loved ones may now obtain the answers they have been hoping for all these yearsand that justice may indeed be achieved.

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The story doesnt end there. With the arrest of suspects in the 1998 killing of Cathy Cobb and the 2001 murder of Kang Ho Lee at the Sunshine Market, there have been arrests made in three cold cases during just the past week, and four since 2006. I congratulate Chief Burbank, the members of the Cold Case Unit, and our entire Police Department for their tremendous work, which constitutes astounding progress in the quest for justice and some measure of comfort for families of homicide victims.

Our Salt Lake City Prosecutors Office works in close collaboration with the Police Department to ensure the stability and health of our city by rationally and comprehensively addressing the harmful effects of crime. Since the beginning of my administration, I have worked with Sim Gill, our intrepid, innovative City Prosecutor, to implement a comprehensive restorative justice approach in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City Restorative Justice Program provides a new model of criminal justice that focuses on making things better for victims, offenders, their families, taxpayers, and the community at large, including taxpayersrather than focusing on incredibly expensive, wasteful, and destructive punishment and retribution. The Restorative Justice Program directly addresses root causes of criminal conduct and the harmful effects of criminal activity, and strives to heal in every way possible victims, offenders, and the community.

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