SSL PD Receives Grant Funding to Hire New Officers

We are pleased to announce that we have received the requested funding to hire three additional police officers through the United States Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Recovery Program. This grant was presented to our City Council earlier this year and they voted unanimously to pursue the funding. The award will pay 100% of the salary and benefits for each officer for a period of three years. The city will pay the salary and benefits for one year after the initial three years have expired.

To put things in perspective, over 7,000 law enforcement agencies applied for funding and only 1,000 received awards. South Salt Lake was one of only six agencies in Utah to receive an award.

Why did we receive funding? The United States Attorney General said in an article published by the Associated Press that “These officers will go to where they are needed most,” adding that the decision about who gets money was made “based on crime rates, financial need and community policing activities.”

In 2008, South Salt Lake saw our crime rate drop 14% overall from the previous year and crimes per 1,000 residents dropped from 112.68 in 2007 to 96.73 in 2008. Additionally, preliminary crime rate statistics for January through June of 2009 show another 4% decrease when compared to the same time period in 2008, further evidence that we’re heading in the right direction.

These additional officers will supplement an extremely busy patrol division in addition to very effective and innovative crime prevention programs that are having a direct impact on the quality of life in our city.

To give you and example of how busy the police department is, in 2008 we handled 41,617 total incidents with 28,520 dispatched calls for service. That is an average of 114 incidents and 78 dispatched calls for service daily.

We’re very excited to add these new positions to our organization and continue providing effective and quality policing service to the City of South Salt Lake.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705319961/Six-Utah-police-departments-awarded-federal-stimulus-funds.html

Message From Chief Chris Snyder

Some very important statistics recently became available that I would like to share with you. The U.S. Census estimate for South Salt Lake during 2008 was just released. The 2008 population was 21,607 residents. With that number we’re able to calculate Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) statistics at 96.73 crimes per 1,000 residents for 2008. That is a significant decrease from 112.68 crimes per 1,000 in 2007. We’ve also submitted UCR statistics for January through June of 2009. There was almost a 4% decrease from the same time period in 2008!

The reduction in crime is something that the entire community should take credit for. Through increased partnerships and innovative programs, we’ve been able to work together to make South Salt Lake a better place to work and live.