Background:
The Jordan River Commission, created by an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement in August 2010, is composed of governmental and non-governmental members working together to facilitate regional implementation of the Blueprint Jordan River, a plan to enhance, preserve, protect, and responsibly develop the Jordan river corridor. (View the 2022 Blueprint Jordan River here). The Commission’s efforts are funded by either grants or private donations.
Attendants:
The Commission’s current membership includes 17 cities, two counties, six regional special service districts, and two state agencies. The December 7th, 2023 Governing Board Meeting, held at the Education Center at the Conservation Garden Park in West Jordan, began at 10:00am and the following members and people were present:
In-person:
Eric McCulley – Chair of the Jordan River Watershed Council (Utah Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation Commission)
Silvia Catten – Millcreek City Council
Soren Simonsen – Jordan River Commission Executive Director
Corey Fralik – Public Services Director with West Jordan City
Dirk Burton – Mayor of West Jordan
Betty Naylor – Naylor Farm
Karen Lang – Mayor of West Valley
Krisitie Overson – Mayor of Taylorsville
Ben Stireman – Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fire, Forestry and State Lands
Don Shelton – South Jordan City Council
Wendelin Knobloch – Midvale City Council
Colby Hill – Associate Director of Public Works, South Jordan City
Stan Porter – North Salt Lake City Council
Rae Robinson – Jordan River Vegetation Project Coordinator with Jordan River Commission and Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands
Rachel Turk – Communications and Outreach Manager for Jordan River Commission
Heidi Hoven – National Audubon Society
Laura Vernon – Great Salt Lake Basin Planner, Utah Division of Water Resources
John Mackey – Utah Division of Water Quality Director
Online:
Gina Grandpre – Senior Planner with Saratoga Springs
Alicia de León – Salt Lake Mayor’s Office Liaison
Andy Pierucci – Riverton City Council
Carly Payne – Utah Division of Water Resources
Clarissa Williams – South Salt Lake City Council
Kim Sorenson – Murray City Council
Paige Albrecht – Lehi City Council
Shazelle Terry – Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District
Tod Munger – Sustainability Director Lehi City
Tod Draper – Plant Naturalist with Draper City
Derek Anderson – Office of Senator Mike Lee
Jeff Stenquist – Utah House of Representatives District 46
Marissa Beckstrom – Jordan River Nature Center Director
Nathan Brakey – Representing US Congressman Burgess Owens
Dina Blaes – Director, Office of Regional Development at Salt Lake County
Jordan River Extra Patrol Program Updates:
James Winder, the newly appointed Chief Law Enforcement Officer with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands, shared an update and lead a discussion about the program, goals, priorities and next steps for the Jordan River Extra Patrol (JREP) program funded through the Jordan River Recreation Area ongoing legislative appropriation. The Jordan River Extra Patrol program, approved during the 2018 legislative session, gives the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands (DFFSL) under Utah Code 65A-2-8 (Jordan River improvement projects) authority to partner or contract with local law enforcement entities to “provide patrol, security, and law enforcement for the area 250 yards on each side of the Jordan River from the edge of the river for the entire length of the river” (Winder).
Updates:
Challenges faced by the JREP program over the past five years include: the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating homelessness along the river, evolving social perspectives on law enforcement “Police work has gotten a little difficult over the last few years,” Winder said. The JREP program, by request of the Director of Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, Jamie Barns, went under evaluation in May of 2023. The goal of this evaluation was to identify and clarify the JREP program’s mission, vision, and benefits.
In 2020, 100% of the funds that were allocated to the JREP program were expended. 2021(80%), 2022(46%), and 2023(75%). Funding that is not spent is reallocated to other uses along the Jordan River. Over the past four years, $730,000 has been spent on law enforcement services on the Jordan river.
How Does the Jordan River Extra Patrol Program Work?
The JREP program has been managed as a “secondary employment” opportunity. According to Winder, “An officer might work a shift from 8am to 2pm, and now he/she wants to earn some extra money, so he/she coordinates with his/her agency’s secondary employment coordinator, and then he/she then goes down to the river and clocks in.”
Statistics presented by Winder:
From Nov. 6th, 2018-Nov. 30th, 2023: 72,000 total public contacts along the river
Aggregated monthly statistics:
1,153 public contacts per month
50 warnings issued per month. “With warnings we emphasize an educational approach rather than a punitive interjection, because we know that that can have an adverse effect on the unsheltered populations,” Winder said.
21 citations per month. “These citations are meaningful, they incorporate everything from some wildlife violations to a whole host of other situations,” Winder said.
20 felony arrests per month. Winder mentioned that the majority of these are associated with warrant service, meaning that an officer encountered somebody with an outstanding felony warrant and made an arrest.
3 misdemeanor arrests per month
21 officer log entries detailing observations/events along the river submitted per month
Based on log entry data, Winder does not believe there is an officer at the river every single day of the month.
Next Steps:
“We need to refine the goals and objectives of the JREP program, and that means identifying what we really want these officers doing down there on the river,” Winder said.
There has not been centralized training, coordination, planning or communication amongst the various law enforcement participants. “Officers are predominantly operating independently, or in many instances based on the needs and approaches of their respective municipality,” Winder said. He advocated for centralized coordination across municipalities to, for example, develop a “common language.” Stating that when he looked at the officer log entries there was no standardized definition of a “camp.” “When somebody says I saw a camp that can mean a guy in a sleeping bag by the river or to others it could mean 30 individual habitations with a tarp over the top with multiple fire pits,” he said.
“Over the course of the program we’ve used and continue to use three separate reporting mechanisms and that’s problematic. We need to streamline that. I think we’re going to move towards using ArcGIS,” Winder said.
Winder stated “It’s imperative that we provide pre-deployment training for the men and women on the river.” He posed the following questions that pre-deployment training could address: “Am I supposed to address when people kill a bird? Am I supposed to look for effluent running obviously out of a canal and going into the Jordan River? And if so, how do I report it? What services are available for me to recommend and to provide to the individuals that I encounter?”
Discussion:
Mayor Karen Lang (West Valley) asked Winder, “Is there enough funding for cities to hire a full-time person to patrol the river instead of waiting for volunteers?” Winder said “While the ‘secondary employment’ approach does have some drawbacks, it does have one significant advantage. That is when one starts analyzing full-time employees with their benefit load, you can often get more actual coverage on a secondary or over-time shift.” He stated he would love to see conversations in the near future that consider the benefits of hiring full-time officers to patrol rather than the current voluntary JREP program.
Stan Porter (North Salt Lake City Council) asked Winder if the graffiti under the overpasses was a Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) issue and wanted to know how that was reported. Winder replied he was unsure, brought up various graffiti abatement programs.
Soren Simonsen (Jordan River Commission Executive Director) said “The number of individuals camping and the active drug use is really problematic for a lot of trail users and recreationalists.” He brought up the possibility of trimming back some of the dense vegetation along the riparian coordinator, which he stated creates issues for monitoring campsites and illegal activity. “How do we manage vegetation for crime prevention through environmental design in a way that doesn’t disrupt the benefits of the vegetation, like habitat and beautification?” Simonsen said.
Implementation of Utah’s Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness & Budget Proposal Updates:
Wayne Niederhauser, Utah Office of Homeless Services Coordinator, shared an update on the ongoing implementation of “Utah’s Plan to Address Homelessness” adopted earlier this year.
Niederhauser first emphasized that “Homelessness is the catch all of all people in crisis, every person I’ve met that is homeless is in a state of high anxiety” and “If we could focus on prevention we would be so much better off.”
“Too many people right now are living in a vulnerable state in their housing because of the cost of housing in Utah,” Niderhauser said. 8,700 people experienced homelessness for the first time in 2022 (that’s a low estimate, as only about two-thirds of people experiencing homelessness report to the office of homeless services).
“Many people think [the cause of homelessness] is just mental illness. It’s just people making bad decisions. Pick it up, get a job, that kind of thing. It’s so much more complicated than that. And housing is at the core of that issue,” Niederhauser said.
“The first thing we ask unsheltered people is ‘Hey, come into a shelter and sleep with fifty other people in a room tonight.’ The number one reason people don’t go into a shelter is that they don’t feel safe,” Niederhauser said.
Current approaches:
Non-congregate options i.e., micro-shelters. A micro-shelter has been set-up (not running yet), on 300 South and 600 West. This is a method Nierderhauser wants to “prove out.” It will be up until the end of April/May. According to Niederhauser, these units are called “Foldums.” There are two units per “Foldum,” each unit is 8 ft. x 10 ft. and heated/cooled.
Niederhauser is resistant to sanctioned camping and prefers “Foldums” to tents because the “Foldums” are heated and congregate bathrooms are provided.
“The cost of housing is driving homelessness in Utah,” Niederhauser said. The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute just came out with a study, demonstrating that in the income bracket of “deeply affordable housing,” (≤30% of Area Median Income), there’s a deficit of 77,000 units in the state. For every 100 households in the income bracket of “deeply affordable,” there are only 3 units that they can afford. If they’re looking for housing today, 97 out of 100 people in “deeply affordable” will not be able to find it.
“We should do away with unsanctioned camping because people are living in places not fit for human habitation. We need to end unsanctioned camping, but we also have to answer the question, where do people go?” Niederhauser said.
Follow-up questions:
If the JREP program emphasizes an educational rather than a punitive approach, why was punitive data emphasized i.e., arrests and citations, rather than data on for example, the number or type of resources provided or perhaps data collected on the needs of the unsheltered individuals?
Why hasn’t “pre-deployment training” been required before officers choose to patrol the river?
To what extent, if at all, should the environment be managed for “crime prevention?”
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