Working for the Salt Lake City Police Department
Salt Lake City Police Department's Style of Policing:
The Salt Lake City Police Department is committed to Community Oriented Policing (COP), or as it is sometimes referred to: Problem Oriented Policing (POP). These styles of policing move the focus of policing from responding and reporting criminal acts to one of responding to criminal or civil problems, analyzing the causes of those problems, and then implementing a plan of action to eliminate the roots of the problem, thus eliminating the need for a continued response from officers of our department to that problem. This process requires the officers of the SLCPD to become familiar with the other agencies within the City that can be utilized to resolve the criminal or civil problem the officer is attempting to resolve.
Due to the style of policing incorporated by the Salt Lake City Police Department we are looking for those individuals who posses analytical skills. We need individuals who have a desire to formulate and implement plans of action in response to problems, both criminal and civil, within the boundaries of Salt Lake City.
What is employment with the SLCPD like?
The Salt Lake City Police Department is the largest department within the State of Utah, and one of the larger agencies located in the western United States. Due to the size of the Department (432 sworn officers) employees are afforded numerous opportunities to work in specialized assignments; these same opportunities do not exist in smaller agencies.
During the course of a career, employees with the Salt Lake City Police Department will have the opportunity to work in one of two patrol divisions and on one of the two bike patrol squads. There are also opportunities to work SWAT, Traffic Enforcement: either on motors or in accident cars, and K-9. Additionally, the Department has an extensive investigative bureau which allows officers to work assignments in homicide, robbery, larceny/burglary, auto theft, financial crimes, homeland security as well as undercover in vice and narcotics. It is this ability to work many and varied assignments which provides our officers with the skills, and knowledge, to be some of the best law enforcement officers in the nation.
Most officers on the Department work four ten hour shifts per week. If the officer is working a uniformed assignment he/she will bid for the shift they will work, as well as their days off by their seniority on the department. Thusly, the newer the officer is to the department the less likely they are to have weekends off or a day shift assignment; officers working investigative assignments generally work a day shift assignment and have the weekends off.
The SLCPD has two gyms located within its buildings as well as locker and shower facilities. Officers are afforded a one hour lunch break for each shift they work. Many of the officers use that one hour lunch time to work out.
The SLCPD has an indoor shooting range located within the Pioneer Precinct which is available to the employees all year long; there is an outdoor range as well that incorporates a rifle range.
Currently, each officer has the option of participating in the "take-home-car-program". There are restrictions as to the distance one can live from the City and still have a take home vehicle; there is a fee associated with this program the officer must be willing to pay in order to have the take home vehicle; the fee is based on how many miles the officer lives from the City.
Reasons to choose to live and work in Salt Lake City?
Salt Lake City is the capital city for the Sate of Utah, and it is the largest city located in Salt Lake County. Salt Lake City has become a large metropolitan city with a population of 181,743; Salt Lake County has a population of 1.2 million. Despite the size of this metropolis the area holds the distinction of having the nation's highest literacy rate; the fourth highest percentage of high school graduates; and, the eleventh highest percentage of college graduates. The area has the distinction of having the seventh lowest rate of violent crime in the nation, and has the third longest life expectancy in the nation.
For the year 2006 Utah's household income ranked ninth in the nation at $55,619 per household, while the average home price in Salt Lake City was at $284,756.
Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas offer numerous opportunities for entertainment. The area has several theaters which offer a full season of live theater. The Salt Lake area is host to a professional basketball team, the Utah Jazz, who consistently make the playoffs, an indoor arena football team, the Blaze, well as a triple A baseball team, the Bees, and a minor league hockey team, the Grizzlies. Additionally, there are numerous shopping centers, theaters, and restaurants to serve all of your needs.
Salt Lake City hosts a nationally recognized arts festival every June, and our neighbor to the east, Park City, hosts a renowned arts festival every summer. Park City also plays host to Robert Redford's world renowned "Sundance Film Festival" each winter.
For the outdoor loving individual: the Wasatch Mountains are a mere thirty minutes from downtown Salt Lake City, and are host to several ski areas. Area residents can take a thirty minute drive and be skiing in the best snow in the world. The area ski resorts receive over 400 inches of snow annually. Additionally, the State of Utah has some of the most striking National Parks in Zion and Bryce Canyon, as well as endless boating on Lake Powell.