In response to public safety concerns across Salt Lake City, The Pioneer Park Coalition coordinated with law enforcement leaders on the local, state, and federal level to host the historic “Utah Public Safety Summit”. The summit included U.S. Attorney John Huber, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson, Chairman of The Other Side Academy Joseph Grenny, Utah Transit Authority Police Chief Fredd Ross, Former Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires, and Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown.
The citizens of Salt Lake have been calling for action on this issue for some time now. Here at the Pioneer Park Coalition, we field public safety concerns on a regular basis from residents, property owners, the business community, The Downtown Alliance, and even from concerned community councils.
Mr. David Ibarra, the moderator at our Public Safety Summit, presented a simple but powerful question.
How can we do better?
We are pleased to see that our leaders have indeed stepped up to this challenge with the announcement of a new initiative called “Project Safe Neighborhoods”.
SLPD, in tandem with the Utah Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Marshalls & The US Attorney’s office will work collaboratively to keep high-level felony offenders off the streets and in jail. The program has already been implemented across the country and even right here in Utah, in the city of Ogden. Due to the partnership forged in Ogden, violent crime dropped 25%, and crime overall decreased by 30%. We are confident the current effort taking place in Salt Lake will yield similar results.
It’s been said that the true test of leadership is how well we function in a crisis. We are grateful to the leaders of Utah who stepped up today in this current crisis to show they care about the safety and well-being of our citizens.
