North Salt Lake gets stimulus funds for police officer to deal with gang problems

NORTH SALT LAKE — Thanks to a recently awarded Justice Assistance Grant, Davis County's southernmost city will hire a police officer to deal strictly with gang enforcement and education.

The $175,750 grant, one of just a few full grants funded with federal stimulus money, will cover the salary and benefits for the officer for two years, a vehicle and his associated equipment, said North Salt Lake Mayor Shanna Schaefermeyer.

The officer, expected to be hired by early 2010, will work with Davis County's metro gang unit, serve as a resource officer at Foxboro and Orchard elementary schools and will train other officers in gang prevention.

Over the past few years, North Salt Lake police have begun identifying gang-related graffiti, or tagging, associated with eight different gangs, which have apparently begun fleeing Salt Lake County and infiltrating North Salt Lake on the border.

"It's disconcerting," Schaefermeyer said. "We can't let it perpetuate. We can't turn a blind eye to it."

The city's current police force of 16 officers doesn't have the resources or the training to follow up on tagging and do adequate patrols in one of the city's areas of highest growth — the Foxboro neighborhood.

Foxboro neighbors have begun taking steps on their own to form a Neighborhood Watch group and patrol the neighborhood's streets.

"We don't want it to be anything other than a nice, safe neighborhood," Schaefermeyer said.

e-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com. Twitter: desnewsdavis