However, three of those five - Cottonwood Heights, Holladay and Riverton - are thinking about forming their own police departments.

Riverton already has received the results of its feasibility study Cottonwood Heights is halfway through its evaluation and Holladay is just beginning that process.

"Our position from a city perspective is: Which model best meets the needs of our citizens," says Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore. "If staying with the sheriff's office is the best model, why don't all cities drop their own department and join with the [sheriff]?"

For Cullimore, public safety is a local matter, which brings him to the heart of why he and other officials want to defect.

"If you lack local control, are you truly serving the needs of your citizens?" he muses.

Over the past two years, Cullimore, along with other Salt Lake Valley mayors, pursued development of a unified police department. That, he says, would have provided the attractive combination of local control and pooled specialty services.

But Sheriff Jim Winder, who was elected last November, squelched that concept when he dropped his support of HB450 - legislation intended to provide the structure for UPD.

"I came to understand that a provision in HB450 essentially reduced the statutory authority of the sheriff, conceding it to the County Council," Winder says.

Winder also worried that cities would enter into the UPD configuration for six months to a year and then bail - "to get the start-up costs for their own departments," he says.

Those costs are what stops many cities from forming their own departments, Winder said. "In my heart of hearts, it's not wise to start many small departments."

Holladay's City Council recently initiated the search for a consultant to evaluate its alternatives.

"We need to move on it," says Councilman Hugo Diederich. "Obviously it's about having more local control of the police officers and of spending as well."

However, in Diederich's mind, the drive toward autonomy gets even more fundamental.

"I'm just one of those believers in community policing, and I don't think the sheriff is big on that," Diederich says. "I'm not only talking about costs, but also the type of services: officers spending time among the kids rather than in a parking lot waiting to catch speeders."

Says Holladay Mayor Dennis Webb: "We want to look at all the options. It's the largest single budget item we have."

Cottonwood Heights' Cullimore, meanwhile, expects his consultant's report will be ready in September. He hopes it will recommend some form of self-policing combined with pooling services with other cities not covered by the sheriff.

Despite these rumblings, Winder says his department's future is not at risk.

"We have 1,400 employees, and we're a very stable organization," Winder says, noting that servicing the unincorporated county makes up 70 percent of his patrol budget.

Still, Winder hopes to hang on to his handful of cities. Losing them could lead to some personnel layoffs, he said.

"We can provide those services cheaper, more efficiently and effectively than if they go off on their own."

Police services

* Cities that contract with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office for police services: Bluffdale, Cottonwood Heights, Herriman, Holladay and Riverton.

* Salt Lake County cities that operate their own police departments: Draper, Midvale, Murray, Salt Lake City, Sandy, South Jordan, South Salt Lake, Taylorsville, West Jordan, West Valley City.