Sustainable Development Goals
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. The Salt Lake City Police Department has several programs that deal with officer wellness, including a robust Peer Support Program and other employee programs as well as Police Chaplains. There are many additional resources, such as the employee assistance program, which provides employees and family members with psychological and counseling assistance, and a military peer support group, which assists employees during and after military deployments. Other benefits also include access to comprehensive health coverage, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
In addition to formal programs, the Department employees have access to fitness time and on-sight gyms. The unique layout of the gym at the Public Safety Building includes state-of-the-art equipment, an open locker area, and individual changing rooms. This was a deliberate design to accommodate all genders and orientations in an equal way, which reduces inequalities and increases opportunities (SDG 5 and 10). A newly-renovated gym is also located at the Pioneer Precinct and has just been updated with new equipment and interior finish. Finally, an open work-out area at an older building houses cross fit equipment and is great for training and fitness classes.
The Department also works diligently to provide options for good health and well-being to the community it serves, particularly those who suffer from substance use disorder and mental health issues. The Co-Responder model created by SLCPD social workers, crisis intervention teams, and police officers provides criminal justice diversion. Co-Response consists of two-person teams comprised of a law enforcement officer and a behavioral health specialist to intervene on mental health-related police calls to de-escalate situations that have historically resulted in arrest and to assess whether the person should be referred for an immediate behavioral health assessment. They also help provide warm hand-offs of individuals to treatment beds, shelters, and other diversion programs that help strengthen the prevention and treatment of substances, including narcotic drug use and harmful use of alcohol.
Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment. Over the last few years, Salt Lake City has seen unprecedented growth in business, residents, and tourism. The Salt Lake City Police Department is no exception. Each year, we have increased the number of employees and received pay increases. The work is honest and provides great benefits, opportunities for growth and advancement, and a sense of community with coworkers and those we serve.
Over the last two years, we have increased the number of applicants in our recruiting and hiring processes and continue to improve the process for obtaining work within the Department. We provide a mentoring program for applicants who have passed the first step of the process and work closely with the hiring team to onboard officers and civilians in a holistic way. Through Funding Our Future, Salt Lake City has promoted development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including the growth of the police department.
The Department Recruiting Plan outlines goas to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value. Strong recruitment efforts are made to reach minority populations and to fill unique roles within the Department, such as forensics, records, and victim advocates, as well as recruit interns year-round.
Cities are hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, social development and much more. At their best, cities have enabled people to advance socially and economically. There needs to be a future in which cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more. The Salt Lake City Police Department provides compassionate attention to the community needed to support the growth, inclusion, and sustainment of the City and its communities.
SLCPD also provides the underpinned presence throughout the City, which provides access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women, children, older persons, and persons with disabilities. We strive to make Salt Lake City accessible and safe for all residents and visitors. Together with the other Departments within the City, SLCPD supports the overall safety needed to improve transportation, urbanization, and thriving livability of the capital city.
The threats of international homicide, violence against children, human trafficking and sexual violence are important to address to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. They pave the way for the provision of access to justice for all and for building effective, accountable institutions at all levels. The Salt Lake City Police Department will serve as guardians of our community to preserve life, maintain human rights, protect property, and promote individual responsibility and community commitment.
Crime and public safety are community issues. Therefore, the community and the police must work together with solidarity of purpose to solve them with unilateral responsibility and participation. Citizens, the Police Department, other agencies and City government are equally responsible to help reshape this mission and advance in demonstrable steps. Each entity must be willing to work together, to become involved, to take initiative and to cooperate with each other to help make the City more enjoyable and safer for all, unilaterally raising the bar over time for the community as a whole.
Community-supported policing is the heart of this direction and plan and is a durable platform for sustained action. Each member of the Salt Lake City Police Department is responsible for achieving its mission, owning the outcome and providing consideration for unique circumstances. Likewise, the community, in solidarity and shared vision, has a stake in the outcome, provides bottom-up contributions, and shares responsibility for making this City both safer and more enjoyable.
SLCPD spends considerable time, effort, and resources to help end abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. The Department function in a transparent manner and ensures responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Above all, we believe in fair and impartial policing, promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws, and promote the rule of law for all.