No one who lives in Salt Lake County could fail to be happy about living in a safer neighborhood where drug use is absent and kids can run and play without fear.
Salt Lake County officials last week introduced a new crime reduction plan they hope eventually will result in that ideal. The plan, which has been under construction since a countywide crime summit last September, is a collaborative effort by politicians, law enforcement and community service programs to launch a cohesive attack on crime with streamlined resources.
"This is an important day for Salt Lake County," County Commissioner Mark Shurtleff said. "It's a day when we're going to start doing more. We're no longer just going to react as a community. It's time for all of us to make a proactive attack on criminals and the roots of crime."
The plan, Shurtleff said, has five major goals: improve the efficiency and management of the criminal justice system; standardize jail policies; improve communication with the judiciary and educate judges about programs that are alternatives to jail; develop more and better programs that are alternatives to jail time; and increase prevention and intervention programs.
A sixth goal is to create avenues for youths to have input to help adults both understand the problems associated with juvenile crime and craft workable solutions.
The plan will be carried out through the work of various subcommittees of the Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Advisory Council, which was created following the September 1999 crime conference. Over the next 18 to 24 months the council will conduct various studies to develop specific crime reduction programs and then decide how to implement those programs over one-, three- or five-year periods, Shurtleff said.
The plan is similar to a statewide effort in crime reduction mandated during the 1999 legislative session. The Utah Commission on Criminal Justice conducted a survey of county sheriffs and city police chiefs last year to pinpoint crime concerns statewide. That survey has resulted in a five-year crime-reduction plan that targets the problems of drug use and its related crimes; family and community safety; improved communications among relevant agencies through the use of technology; and improved justice system accountability.
"I think there was some really good dialogue that came out of that conference, but if we weren't already on the path to doing most of it already, we wouldn't be doing our jobs to begin with," Millard County Sheriff Ed Phillips said. "There were some red flags raised, and I think it is good to know that we're all really pretty much on the same page as far as our concerns."
Much of what appears in the statewide plan is mirrored in Salt Lake County's, Shurtleff said.
Just how the outcomes will be measured is still unknown, but the general theory is that by addressing crime with a heavier or more concentrated plan at the juvenile and misdemeanor offense levels, the pool of criminals at the felony level will be reduced, said Sim Gill, Salt Lake County deputy prosecuting attorney.
Gill and Shurtleff cited drug courts as an example of how alternative programs can reduce crimes. Drug users who commit crime and are incarcerated generally end up reoffending about 80 percent of the time; however, those who have graduated from county drug courts reoffend less than 10 percent of the time, Shurtleff said.
Gill is optimistic about the new crime reduction plan.
"It's a true collaboration," he said. "I think it will be mutually beneficial to all of us. We will be much more effective."
Just how the county might pay for new programs is still a mystery, Shurtleff said. Some state and federal monies are available, but the county also plans to rely heavily on volunteers, he said.
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