Operation Safe Passage
We show great concern for the safety of our children as they leave our homes for school each day. School zones with flashing yellow lights, crossing guards, and orange traffic cones are all designed for the safety of our children. Operation Safe Passage is another step to ensure their safety.
This program empowers citizen volunteers to become the eyes and ears of the police along their neighborhoods' safe walking routes, providing security for children traveling to and from school. Every day our children face potential dangers like abductions, attempted abductions, drug pushers, bullies, and other criminal activity.
By wearing brightly-colored vests with police-issued ID badges and being alert, citizen volunteers are a highly visible deterrent to those who may threaten our children. If you walk your children to school, you are already giving the necessary time commitment to get involved with Operation Safe Passage. The only difference is that you now act with heightened awareness and report suspicious activity by calling 911 or (801) 799-3000.
It has been proven that just the mere presence of Operation Safe Passage volunteers significantly deters criminal activity. Operation safe passage helps prevent opportunities for abductions, decreases the anxiety children feel walking to school, provides a defense against bullies, and gives peace of mind to all involved.
Volunteers who see suspicious vehicles traveling without purpose are encouraged to get a description of the vehicle such as color, make, plate number and its style, description of occupants, and any other information distinctive about the vehicle-body damage, decals, ornaments-whatever you can offer.
Individuals seeming to linger around safe walking routes, or someone approaching children, may be a drug dealer, a bully or some other predator. If a volunteer notices this activity, they should immediately contact the police.
When you do call, accurate information is the key to help track them down. Try and remember the individual's race, hairstyle and color, height, build, clothing, and anything else that would make the individual stand apart from another.
To participate in Operation Safe Passage, contact the Salt Lake City Police Department. You must be 21 or older and pass a Department background check. Once you become a member of Operation Safe Passage, you are free to patrol as it fits your schedule.
A three-minute video explaining the program and how it woks is now available on DVD or on the Department's website, www.slcpd.com. If you're a parent or concerned adult, you can be part of Operation Safe Passage For more information contact:
Salt Lake City Police Department
c/o Operation Safe Passage
315 East 200 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Phone: (801) 799-3440
Fax: (801) 799-3419
Email: SLCPDVolunteer@slcgov.com
Like all Salt Lake Police crime prevention programs, Operation Safe Passage volunteers are not "vigilante" groups. Volunteers are not deputized or given official police powers; they are trained not to get physically involved in altercations, but to phone police for assistance. Volunteers should document suspicious activity and act as "the eyes and ears" for police.