TAYLORSVILLE, Utah, June 22, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The City of Taylorsville intends to withdraw from the Unified Police Department and establish its own police agency within the next year, the city announced Monday.
In a letter dated June 30, the city will give the governing board 12 months’ notice of Taylorsville’s plan to end its contract with UPD, the city said in a news release.
“It’s not a decision we made lightly,” Taylorsville Mayor Kristie Overson stated in the news release. “We have long been a champion of UPD and have greatly appreciated their service, particularly the enduring work of our precinct officers to keep our community safe.
“At the same time, we recognize that we are at a crossroads. We want to take what’s great about UPD and build upon it.”
Overson chairs the UPD Board Finance Committee and said the change will save money for Taylorsville, but cost isn’t the only reason for the decision.
The move comes at a time when people are thinking about policing and best practices, and “with the current political climate, we do not think it is wise to outsource our police department,” Overson said.
The city will have a series of focus groups with diverse communities to get input on the structure and operation of the new police department, as well as ways to reduce costs, “that have increased year over year under UPD,” according to the news release.
The city council intends to ratify the mayor’s letter at its July 1 meeting, and in-house police operations will begin on July 1, 2021.
The Taylorsville precinct currently has 60 officers and three civilian staff members.
A draft of the Notice of Intent to Withdraw from the Unified Police Department can be read in its entirety below:
Dear Mayors, Chairpersons, and Sheriff:
The City of Taylorsville sincerely appreciates its long-standing partnership with the other
member entities that created the Unified Police Department (“UPD”). We are particularly
grateful for the women and men of law enforcement who have served our community so well for so long. We all agree that our collective community has benefited from this collaboration.
In order to improve policing and ensure the most local control, we believe now is the best time to form our own police department. We appreciate our long-standing relationship with UPD. We look forward to building on the accomplishments of UPD and partnering with it and other agencies as we develop our own police department.
This letter satisfies our requirement to provide notice to withdraw from Unified Police
Department on July 1, 2021, as required in Subsection 20(b) of the Cooperative Agreement by Public Agencies to Create a New Entity, to Consolidate Law Enforcement Service, and Provide Rules of Governance.
Sincerely,
Kristie Overson
Mayor, City of Taylorsville
Thank you for reporting this! I was wondering if there was a plan to replace the citizen advisory board or establish a review board? I would love to find out what their plan is to reduce expenses and how to increase accountability and responsibility.