Op-Ed: Public Safety Is a Shared Responsibility—Salt Lake Can’t Do It Alone.

By Liddy Huntsman Hernández

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.

SLCPD 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 than ever. 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’s 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 months 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 serves not only its residents but the entire state. People come here to work, seek services, protest, heal, and live. That means we need the support of our neighbors—county agencies, the District Attorney’s office, the Sheriff’s department, and state partners to show up with the same urgency. We need coordinated solutions that address jail capacity, mental health treatment, drug enforcement, and repeat offenses. Consider this: many individuals arrested by SLCPD have been arrested between 5 and 40 times, yet they often aren’t adequately prosecuted or held in jail. 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 future depends on thoughtful, shared investment. The department is doing its part. It’s time others step up and do theirs.

The Salt Lake City Police Foundation (SLCPF) is a nonprofit organization committed to supporting the officers of the SLCPD, building stronger community partnerships, and advancing public safety innovation.