The stock of the Unified Police Department is on the rise. Cities in Salt Lake County whose budgets are stressed by the financial crisis are taking a hard look at throwing in with the UPD to save money. Operating their own police departments suddenly looks like an expensive luxury.

Our only question is why these cities didn't do this sooner.

We've long believed that supporting a dozen police departments in Salt Lake County doesn't make much financial or organizational sense, especially when suburban growth has turned much of the county into one continuous city.

Mayors and police chiefs who oversee independent police departments in small cities always point to local control as an advantage. But we don't see much difference in the public safety demands in Holladay or Cottonwood Heights or White City or Midvale or Millcreek. While it may be easier to keep an eye on a smaller department and its budget, a big department with large resources can deploy its forces more efficiently.

Besides, why pay for a separate police administration in each city? That duplication is costly.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder heads the UPD. It has shared services for SWAT (special weapons and tactics), K-9, crime lab, property and evidence, records, dispatch and car crash analysis. The department maintains separate patrol divisions in each community.

UPD currently serves Copperton, Herriman, Holladay, Kearns, Midvale, Magna, Millcreek, Riverton, Taylorsville, White City, Granite, Willow Canyon, Sandy Hills and Willow Creek.

Individual communities can determine their level of patrol service, and mayors and elected county officials oversee the UPD on its board of directors. In this way, the UPD tries to preserve accountability to elected officials and the shared services that result in administrative efficiencies.

UPD got a black eye when Salt Lake County imposed a police fee to pay for policing in unincorporated areas. In some ways, the fee was more equitable than a property tax, but it was unpopular with some patrons.

The Legislature killed the police fee earlier this year, and it will be replaced with a property tax. That will give the UPD a more stable funding source than the more volatile sales tax. That stability is why hard-pressed cities are taking a fresh look at joining.

But in good times or bad, shared services make sense.