Bluffdale needs officers

BLUFFDALE — Grumbling from neighboring cities has Bluffdale scrambling to find additional money for law enforcement.

Bluffdale City Council members Nancy Lord and Bill Maxwell met this week with representatives from the Riverton City Council to discuss concerns that Bluffdale is relying too much on law enforcement from neighboring cities.

"We know it's a problem," Lord said in an interview Wednesday. "We know we need to increase our police. We are definitely headed in the direction to do that."

A crossover agreement between Bluffdale, Herriman and Riverton allows Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies contracted by one of the southwest cities to respond to calls in another when needed. But it hasn't been an equitable agreement, according to Herriman Mayor Lynn Crane.

Last month, Crane issued an ultimatum in a letter to members of the Bluffdale City Council, telling them to immediately find additional funding for law enforcement or prepare to lose police support from its neighbors.

"Interlocal service agreements are based on mutual response and generally tend to create a balance between entities so that services are mutually beneficial," he wrote. "Reports indicate that this has not happened in the situation that presently exists within the precinct."

According to the letter, deputies contracted by Herriman and Riverton are responding to service calls in Bluffdale at a "significantly higher" rate than they are receiving assistance from Bluffdale officers.

Herriman is calling for Bluffdale to immediately add one patrol deputy, which would give the city the equivalent of 3.5 full-time officers. In his letter, Crane also asks for a fourth deputy to be added in July of this year or January 2008. That commitment, the letter states, "would be viewed as a positive response."

If those efforts aren't made, "Riverton and Herriman will be required to consider limiting responses within the Bluffdale city limits," according to the letter. Responses to low-priority calls, such as crimes against property, would have to wait until a Bluffdale officer is available.

Discussion about adding a patrol deputy was scheduled for Tuesday night's Bluffdale City Council meeting but was postponed to a future meeting because of time constraints.

Lord said the council likely will increase law enforcement for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. Adding an officer between now and then also is a possibility, she said.