The Salt Lake City Police Department is shaking up its command structure — eliminating a merit-based, managerial role to create a new mayor-approved one.
The police agency confirmed Thursday afternoon that it was getting rid of its “captain” rank — the third highest behind only deputy chief and chief — in favor of new “commander” roles.
The seven employees currently serving as captains will be considered and interviewed for the new position “if she or he indicates interest,” police communications director Brent Weisberg said Thursday in a written statement.
Those who don’t express interest or aren’t chosen for the new titles will lose their jobs at the Police Department and be eligible for a severance package, Weisberg said.
Because the new position is an appointed role, the Salt Lake City mayor will review and approve all commander candidates. The captain rank was attained as part of typical career progressions — through years of experience and merit, without an appointment requirement.
Weisberg clarified in a statement Friday that Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s appointments will be formal in nature, as outlined in state statute, while the responsibility for “identifying and selecting the strongest candidates” for the commander position rests solely with Salt Lake City police Chief Mike Brown.
“While the Mayor holds the ultimate authority to confirm the appointments, she does not participate in the hiring process and expects Chief Brown to thoroughly conduct the hiring process to ensure the selected candidates meet the department’s and the city’s needs,” the statement read.
The restructure is the Police Department’s “next step in the implementation of modern policing practices,” Weisberg said, and will lead to “enhanced efficiency, accountability, and innovation.”
He added that with the creation of the commander role, maintaining the captain positions — “an additional administrative layer” — was not an “organizational best practice” or in the Police Department’s “best interest.”
Weisberg said commander duties would include “significantly increased responsibilities” related to scope, communication, dedication, focus, professionalism and leadership. They are also restricted from taking “Salt Lake City sponsored secondary employment.”
But it’s unclear how the role’s responsibilities fundamentally differ from a captain’s. According to a job description that police provided Thursday when The Salt Lake Tribune sought clarification, a commander “directs the operational activities” and staff within the department’s different divisions; assists leadership with “planning and organizing departmental goals, standards, budgeting, policy, and personnel development;” and is tasked with developing working relationships with the community and local officials, the mayor’s office, and City Council.
The Tribune attempted to reach the Salt Lake Police Association multiple times Thursday for comment about the restructure but was unsuccessful. The union represents Salt Lake City police officers.
In a statement Friday, a spokesperson from the mayor’s office shared that Mendenhall “supports Chief Brown’s leadership of the police department.”
“His responsibility as Chief is evaluating and implementing modern improvements within the police department, and in this instance he will identify and select the people best suited to take on these increased responsibilities,” the statement read.
The statement reiterated that, “as with every other appointed position in the city,” the mayor ultimately approves appointment candidates who are recommended by a department’s director — “who in this case is Chief Brown.”
Weisberg said Chief Brown “expresses his sincere gratitude to our current Police Captains for their service to the Salt Lake City Police Department.”
Chris Burbank, who preceded Brown, told The Tribune he eliminated the captain position when he ran the Police Department.
“What I was trying to do is flatten the organization — move the command level people ... closer to the troops,” Burbank said.
After Brown became chief in 2016, he brought the position back, Burbank said. Before the shake-up this week, Salt Lake City’s latest command structure, from highest rank to lowest, was:
Chief
Deputy Chief
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Officer
Burbank, who no longer works with SLCPD but serves as the law enforcement strategy consultant with the Center for Policing Equity, added that while other law enforcement agencies have commander positions, having the mayor approve candidates seems “highly unusual” and, he said, “has got some people upset.”
He said the concern is that a commander, who is employed at the will of the mayor and is in charge of managing officers, may make choices driven by politics and not policing best practices.
Having managers “on the ground making decisions tends not to work well,” Burbank argued, “because they’re making decisions not on what’s best for what sits in front of them, but what’s best politically in the long run.”
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