SALT LAKE CITY — City code enforcement officers frequently deal with people who are upset due simply to the nature of their jobs.
But at what point should a code enforcement officer stop talking to a property owner who doesn't like being told to clean his yard and walk away?
Salt Lake City officials want to make sure their officers have the tools they need to be safe in the field. Not with guns or weapons, but rather with verbal skills and street smarts.
"We just mainly wanted to make people more aware,” said Scott Mikkelsen, Salt Lake City's housing and zoning supervisor.
The city's 17 code enforcement officers are currently undergoing a 15-week training course, meeting once a week for an hour to learn about different ways of being safe. The course was prompted by the August shooting death of West Valley code enforcement officer Jill Lanette Robinson, 52.
Robinson had been invited to the house of Kevin Wayne Billings, 64, who had been an ongoing problem for the city, to talk about his current violations. Shortly after Robinson arrived, she was ambushed and killed.
"What have we done to prepare our people for a similar situation? Or is there anything we can do so that they can be more vigilant dealing with customers?” was the question Salt Lake City's civil enforcement departments asked themselves following the tragedy, according to Orion Goff, the city's building services director.
Code enforcement officers visit properties to typically tell homeowners they can't use their yards for improper outdoor storage, such as nonworking automobiles or solid waste. They also are the ones who inform homeowners they need to keep weeds from overtaking their yards in the summer and the snow from covering their sidewalks in the winter.
Salt Lake code enforcement officers make visits to more than 40,000 properties a year, according to the city. The overwhelming majority of those visits are based on complaints generated by neighbors and not officers driving around looking for violations, Goff said.
Homeowners are automatically on the defensive the moment a person pulls up in a vehicle with the city's logo, he said.
While the majority of cases are resolved quickly, there are some residents who believe they have the right to store whatever they want on their property, Mikkelsen said. The training is to give employees the tools to properly deal with those residents.
In a series of videos followed by group discussions, employees are taught about such things as street safety, arguing versus deflecting, and creating positive energy around the person in violation of the city code.
Communication is a big tool for code enforcement officers since they can't carry guns, the videos state. Employees are taught to give assertive responses and "create positives."
Officers are taught to choose their words wisely, such as not calling items piled up in someone's yard "junk."
"These are their lifelong assets, and to (the homeowner) they have value,” Mikkelsen said.
Code enforcement officers are also taught to keep at least 21 feet between themselves and the person they are talking to, and if possible, to make sure an obstacle, such as a couch, table, or hood of a car, is between the two people.
If a subject continues to threaten a code enforcement officer, that officer should have a plan of escape, the video instruction states, rather than stand there and take it.
"When it comes to our safety, you and I have to think, 'When does it stop?'” the instructor in the video told the class. "If someone is making threats, we want to get out of there."
Employees are told to have an excuse ready, such as, "I forgot some paperwork I need to get," and then not return once the officer leaves.
Similar training is being given for health inspectors, parking enforcement employees and housing inspectors who encounter people who become upset when told their restaurant is being cited for a health code violation, or a contractor who is told their project has a violation or a motorist who finds a parking ticket on their car.
While Salt Lake City officials say there was nothing that could have been done to prevent the tragic shooting in West Valley City, they hope by giving a 15-week course to their employees, they can at least enhance the awareness of all personnel.