Reader comments
Fractured policing is not good

The differences between Cottonwood Heights and the sheriff contributed significantly to why the city of Cottonwood Heights was formed in the first place. At that time, the sheriff's office contracted for police services with several towns at a lower cost that what was being charged to unincorporated areas of the county.

Those towns also contracted for a specific level of service; unincorporated areas got whatever was left over.

Even after Cottonwood Heights was formed, and services were contracted with the sheriff's department, the sheriff's office made personnel changes without consulting the city, giving the city fathers the impression that the sheriff's office is unresponsive to the city's needs and concerns.

Time will tell whether the city can do better by itself compared with the services provided by the sheriff's office. The Unified Fire Authority seems to provide good, county-wide service, and possibly a good example for police services, yet Salt Lake City has its own Fire Department. One wonders why?

One issue not considered is the potential impact of all police agencies being under one umbrella and one union. The threat of a valley wide job action would place incredible pressue on the governing board for a unified agency. With regard to communication, and as has been demonstrated in business, with the advent of new technology in the areas of telecommunication and the internet, there is the ability for seamless communication. Why not follow the model of Metro Fire which provides local control in each of the member cities and works cooperatively to avoid duplication of specialized equipment and training. Much easier than the creation of a new governing board and the associated complications of a valley wide agency.

...why Salt Lake City has their own?

They've had their departments much longer than the other agencies in the valley. Of course, referring to Unified Fire is somewhat funny. Unified Fire is just a renamed Salt Lake County Fire Dept. Change the name of the Sheriff's office to "Unified Police" and you'd have the exact same thing.

Saying Unified Fire provides county wide service is silly. Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Murray, South Salt Lake and Sandy all have their own fire departments.

Police agencies already cooperate in sharing certain specialized things (K9, SWAT, EOD etc)

Salt Lake City has spent 150 years building their forces to what they are....they're not about to ceded those, and I can't blame them. They have the largest police department in the state, that's not something to just give up control over.

This is all about petty control issues of mayors and city councils and not about better policing. It is pathetic when so little power goes to someones head.

It has nothing to do with control issues of the individual city mayors and councils. When SLCo Fire turned into Unified Fire, they wanted 50 year contracts signed. Talk about giving up control. The Metro Fire Agency allows city fire departments to work together while still allowing control to stay with the local Fire Chiefs. Cities can pull out whenever they feel they are not getting support. When you put a 50 year contract stipulation, it throws up red flags.

Dispatch for the valley is almost centralized, with almost all the agencies being dispatched through Valley Emergency Communications Center. Communication and technology isn't the issue here. It's the fact that cities who pay for contracted police and fire services actually have higher taxes than cities that provide their own public safety.

Join forces for Mutual Aid agreements like Metro Fire, but don't give one person power over the entire county's public safety.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Look at metro fire, nothing but extra sticker on my city's fire trucks! Anytime can leave at anytime, not very secure. They my city has to go buy all the equipment.