This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Lethal force investigation reports by Salt Lake City's Police Civilian Review Board will now be public — in most cases.
The new city policy comes on the heels of a Salt Lake Tribune effort to gain access to the review board's report in the August officer-involved shooting death of Dillon Taylor, 20.
By executive order, Mayor Ralph Becker has directed his administration to publicly disclose reports on "high-profile, controversial or well-publicized cases" except when they contain "unusually sensitive privacy interests," according to a statement released Wednesday by City Hall.
Previously, the Becker administration held that the Civilian Review Board reports were private personnel documents that could be made public only at the discretion of city officials. City officials had initially denied the Tribune's request for the Taylor report, saying it was a protected personnel record.
"While the previous policy guiding public reporting and the work of the CRB was appropriate under GRAMA (state Government Records Access and Management Act) rules, I believe this change was the right action to take on behalf of our residents," Becker said in a prepared statement. "My direction to staff and our civilian board works to heighten the levels of both transparency and accountability issues that I know have become even more critical to our community in the midst of important national and local discussions."
Police Chief Chris Burbank said he did not oppose the policy change.
"State law says we have the ability to keep them private when the allegations [against an officer] are not sustained," he said. "But we are happy to open things up."
In addition, the mayor announced that he will organize a series of public forums focused on bringing residents, law enforcement representatives, policy makers and the legal community together to discuss use of force issues.
"We recognize that there is concern in our community about the use of force and are developing a dialogue series to convene policymakers and interested community members for meaningful discussions of the issues associated with use of force, and in particular, officer-involved shootings," Becker said. "I'll be seeking input from community members to let us know exactly how these forums should look to ensure we're working together and effectively."
According to spokesman Art Raymond, residents will be able to submit ideas for the community dialogues via Open City Hall at http://www.slcgov.com/opencityhall. The posting is expected to be available for comment by the end of the week.