Voices: Salt Lake City police are doing their part to improve public safety. It’s time others step up.

Salt Lake City is facing urgent and complex public safety challenges. Our downtown is struggling — not just with crime, but with visible, escalating mental health crises, substance use, and individuals cycling through homelessness without access to consistent care. These problems aren’t just hard on the public, they’re also putting unsustainable pressure on our police department.

What we’re seeing today isn’t the result of a single failing. It’s the product of a system-wide disconnect.

The Salt Lake City Police Department is being asked to respond to a reality that goes far beyond traditional law enforcement. Officers are now expected to act as mental health responders, addiction counselors, crisis mediators and more. All while handling routine calls for service with fewer resources.

Despite a proposed 12.4% budget increase for FY2025, the department is operating with about 45 officer vacancies out of more than 630 authorized positions. That means fewer boots on the ground and a growing volume of complex calls. Salt Lake City may have more funding, but it has fewer officers and greater demands.

Chief Brian Redd, in his short time leading the department, has laid out a clear vision: Restore integrity and dignity to policing while enforcing the laws and partnering more deeply with the community. As Chief Redd enacts his vision of policing with empathy, respect and integrity while enforcing the laws, the community it serves also needs to show the officers on the street empathy, respect and integrity. We’re already seeing early progress, but vision without infrastructure will fall flat.

Salt Lake’s general fund is $512.5 million. Just $3.9 million of that has been set aside to support the city’s public safety plan. Chief Redd successfully secured an increase to SLCPD’s budget from $120 million to $134.9 million in the new fiscal year. It’s a necessary investment that reflects the scale of the challenges we face. It covers fair wages to retain experienced officers; tools like a Real Time Crime Center and drone-based response program; and ongoing support for mental health integration. These aren’t luxuries. They’re foundational to building a department capable of serving a 21st-century city.

A key part of that future force is the department’s new Pre-Academy program, which currently has around 40 incoming officers. Before they ever put on a badge, they’ll spend several weeks immersed in community services, homeless shelters and incarceration facilities — giving them first-hand exposure to the systems and struggles they’ll be responding to. For the first time in years, SLCPD is approaching full staffing after this academy class graduates.

But even with that funding, Salt Lake City cannot carry this burden alone.

As Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City serves not only its residents but the entire state. People come here to work, seek services, protest, heal and live. This reality means police must align closely with partners throughout the criminal justice and social services system to effectively address these regional challenges.

Consider this: Department leaders tell us that many individuals arrested by SLCPD have been arrested multiple times. Constant re-arrests drain valuable police resources without resolving underlying issues. These are regional problems, and they demand regional ownership.

As Chief Redd has said many times: We cannot arrest our way out of this.

Salt Lake City’s public safety depends on real alignment, not tomorrow, but right now. The department is stepping up and taking action; it’s critical that partners match that urgency. Our city’s future depends on it.

Liddy Huntsman Hernández is a board member of the Salt Lake City Police Foundation, which also signs onto the above commentary. The SLCPF is a nonprofit organization committed to supporting the officers of the SLCPD, building stronger community partnerships and advancing public safety innovation. Learn more at www.slcpolicefoundation.org.

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