Police-services bill would 'fire me,' Winder says

Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder feels betrayed.

On Tuesday, he found himself arguing with other county officials, practically begging them to back off a bill that essentially strips him of most of his power.

"You're making a decision to fire me," Winder said.

SB253 allows local governments to sign an agreement and pool police services without the sheriff's approval. The bill is scheduled to be debated Wednesday morning before the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions committee.

The Salt Lake County Council is sharply divided on the bill. The Democrats are backing the Democratic sheriff, while the Republicans want to use the bill to move forward with a regional police force.

Three cities have ended their contracts with the sheriff for police protection, including Cottonwood Heights, where city leaders voted last month to start their own police department.

If cities keep pulling out and starting police departments of their own, the unincorporated residents could be in for a pinch. With just four contract cities left, residents of unincorporated Salt Lake County are paying more than their fair share for police services, Crockett said.

"We need to get busy, figuring out how to give people a reason to stay rather than continue to force people to stay," Crockett said. "We need to change the way we think about county government, or all of the cities are going to change the way we think about county government for us."

He said Cottonwood Heights would have never pulled out of a contract with the sheriff if a similar bill to start a regional police force had been successful last year.

The bill, titled "County Sheriff Law Enforcement Duties Amendments," is similar to one that Winder helped kill during the 2007 legislative session.

Winder isn't against the idea of a cooperative law enforcement agency. He's just against the model currently pushed by the cities.

The current UPD model, which was crafted after two years of work by county mayors and members of the county council, "wasn't the start of anything. It's like repainting the same car."

Winder said he wants a true metro police, where there is "actual consolidation of some of the agencies."

But for now, he said his office provides "one of the best police services in the state, and have done so for years."

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com