Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera announced Wednesday that she is joining a national task force examining the best policies to reduce violent encounters between the public and officers.
Police violence became a massive national story this year after Minnesota resident George Floyd was killed by police over an alleged counterfeit $20. Salt Lake City residents also took to the streets over the summer to protest the March death of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, who was shot by Salt Lake City police officers. People were upset that District Attorney Sim Gill decided the officers were legally justified to shoot.
The task force Rivera will serve on was launched by the Washington D.C.-based think tank Council on Criminal Justice. Other members of include Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and DeRay Mckesson, the co-founder of anti-police brutality organization Campaign Zero.
Rivera said the task force will allow a diverse group of people to identify “evidence-based policies and procedures that can be reviewed and adopted by communities across this country based on their needs. This will help improve relationships while ensuring the public safety is preserved.”
Rivera said she wants to make law enforcement more diverse and promote community policing ever since she was sworn into office in 2017.
