SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker has ordered that all cases determined to be "high-profile, controversial or well-publicized" that are reviewed by the police Civilian Review Board should be open to the public.
Previously, only reports involving allegations of misconduct by a Salt Lake police officer that were substantiated by the Civilian Review Board were made available to the public. Under the mayor's new executive order signed Friday, cases in which an officer is exonerated or a claim is determined to be unfounded can also be made public if the case is determined to be high-profile. That determination will be made by the mayor's chief of staff.
In a prepared statement, the mayor said the change was made to "heighten the levels of both transparency and accountability — issues that I know have become even more critical to our community in the midst of important national and local discussions.”
Under the new rule, the Civilian Review Board report on the fatal officer-involved shooting of Dillon Taylor in August was released to the public. The shooting was ruled to be legally justified by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office and the officer was also "exonerated" by the Civilian Review Board.
Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank on Wednesday said he isn't opposed to having those records released.
"It's never been my intention to protect or keep any of these things away," he said. "In the interest of being open and transparent, we have decided that yeah, this is probably the best thing to do, release it."
Burbank compared the release of board's reports to the release of body camera video, which he has authorized for the past two shootings involving Salt Lake City officers. Video from the fatal Jan. 8 shooting in the Avenues was released almost immediately.
"The video does not capture truth. It does not speak to perception. What the video does is document a factual representation of what took place. And then it's up to those individuals involved to speak what the truth is," he said.
The chief compared body camera video to instant replay in some of the recent NFL playoff games. Everyone watched the same video, but not everyone interpreted what they were seeing the same way.
Yet one of the biggest benefits for releasing body camera videos, he said, is that their release "starts the dialogue that needs to take place about what officers actually face."
Burbank also noted that releasing video is a balancing act between being transparent and protecting someone's privacy. For example, he said incidents recording personal moments or medical conditions might not be released.
"I am not looking to create TV footage. I'm looking to represent the good work the police department does," he said. "Each (incident) will be (decided on) a case-by-case basis while knowing interest in releasing but respecting rights."
Burbank admitted that having reports released involving a shooting or another higher-profile incident is something he talks to his officers about. None of them signed up to be a police officer to be on the 10:00 news, he said. With the release of information also comes a certain amount of public scrutiny that some officers might not be accustomed to receiving.
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