Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office to take on more duties as it separates from Unified Police

Services previously provided by UPD – such as patrolling the canyons – will now return under the sole jurisdiction of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera will no longer oversee the Unified Police Department effective July 1, the two law enforcement agencies announced in a joint news release Monday.

The UPD was created by the Legislature in 2009, with the hope that the department would become the county's primary law enforcement agency. Instead, the agency shrank as more cities created their own police departments — which lawmakers say created a conflict of interest for the sheriff's office, since the sheriff oversees countywide policing while representing individual cities that contract with UPD.

So in 2023, the state legislature passed HB 273 – which would remove the Salt Lake County Sheriff as CEO of the department and ultimately disband the agency in 2025.

However, according to a press release issued Monday, UPD member communities – including Holladay, Millcreek, Emigration, Kearns, Magna and Brighton – have chosen to continue their agreement with the UPD, but under the leadership of a board of directors.

“While the UPD and the joint partnership between Salt Lake County and municipal agencies will evolve with this separation, we all remain committed to maintaining effective collaboration with all agencies for the benefit of our entire community,” Rivera said in the press release. .

The separation will mean that many services provided by the Sheriff's Office through UPD – such as SWAT, canyon patrol and search and rescue – will return to the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. These services were initially provided by the UPD so that participating UPD communities could share the costs, thereby saving local governments money and reducing the tax burden on residents.

Neither agency expects any disruption to law enforcement with the separation, according to the press release.

“We are committed to serving our community with professionalism, integrity and commitment to public safety,” UPD Police Chief Jason Mazuran said in the release. “This realignment allows us to focus our resources on the specific needs of our member communities, ensuring a high level of service and community engagement.