Salt Lake Police Chief Ruben Ortega left Friday morning to go to Harvard. The city's top cop isn't there to learn, though; he's there to teach.
Ortega will be part of a panel that teaches newly elected mayors how to deal with crime and public safety. The seminar, hosted by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, runs through Friday night.Ortega and Mayor Wellington Webb of Denver will present a session on crime control that focuses on how police agencies and city government should cooperate.
"You've got to have an absolute partnership (between mayors and chiefs)," Ortega said Thursday night. He said common goals and an agreed-upon strategy to accomplish them are critical to controlling crime.
He uses himself and Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini as examples. When Ortega came to Salt Lake City three years ago he said his highest priority was community-oriented policing. It was also the mayor's.
Their reasoning was also the same, Ortega said.
"We both realized we'd never have the resources to just provide (routine police protection)," Oretga said. Instead, they decided the best way to control the growth of crime was to get the community involved in the fight.
"The citizens were willing to volunteer," he said. "We'd just never let them."
Among their accomplishments Ortega cites establishing neighborhood offices where officers are stationed around the clock; using bicycles to put officers closer to citizens and make them more accessible and establishing Scouting programs in the inner city for disadvantaged children.
Ortega was honored by the invitation but loves the idea of sharing his experiences and his advice with newly elected officials. It's something that doesn't often happen, he said.
"I feel this invitation is reflective of what we have accomplished in Salt Lake City," he said.