August 2020 | Vol. 7 Iss. 08
FREE CITY COUNCIL VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO LEAVE THE UNIFIED POLICE DEPARTMENT IN 11 MONTHS By Carl Fauver | c.fauver@mycityjournals.com
“
Taxation without representation.” That familiar refrain, of course, launched the Revolutionary War and motivates an on-going drive back east to make Washington D.C. our 51st state. It’s also one of the biggest reasons why the Taylorsville City Council has voted unanimously to jump off what appears, more and more, to perhaps be a sinking ship—the Unified Police Department. “The four cities served by UPD (Holladay, Midvale, Millcreek and Taylorsville) represent 68% of the department’s budget and about the same percentage of total residents served by the agency, but those cities only have 33% of the votes on the UPD board of directors,” Taylorsville City Attorney Tracy Cowdell said in a recent presentation to the city council. “This is not fair. Our citizens have a disproportional representation on the [UPD] board.” Soon after explanations from Cowdell and City Manager John Taylor—clearly meant more for the residents and attendant media than for elected officials—the Taylorsville City Council voted unanimously to send a letter to the Unified Police Department, notifying department personnel of the city’s intent to discontinue contracting for their services, as of June 30, 2021. If Taylorsville City does indeed follow through with its plan, this will mark the second time the community has had its own, independent police department. The city’s previous stand-alone law enforcement agency was disbanded in 2012 when Taylorsville began contracting with UPD. However, city council Vice Chairman Brad Christopherson said the Taylorsville–UPD relationship could still be salvaged if the police agency is willing to make what the council
Specialized equipment such as this mobile command post might have to be rented, when needed, from another law enforcement jurisdiction if Taylorsville reestablishes its own, stand-alone police force. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)
considers to be fair and logical changes. “If there was an actual effort to work toward a [management and budgeting] compromise, I would consider changing my vote [to leave UPD],” Christopherson told his fellow council members. “I think UPD is a fantastic organization, but the economies of scale to make it go have been lost. And there
has been a flat-out refusal by UPD administration to address this.” Similar city departures from UPD by Herriman in 2018 and Riverton in 2019 have had a big impact on those economies of scale. In the just-finalized FY2021 Taylorsville City Continued page 5
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