City officials say crime is down since Sheriff’s Office replaced Wendover city police
A year after the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office began policing Wendover, city officials say crime is down and the town has become safer overall.
The Sheriff’s Office rode into Wendover in January of 2008 following a scandal the previous fall that rocked the Wendover City Police Department. Former police chief Vaughn Tripp’s stripper wife was arrested on drug charges amid allegations from community members that the chief had turned a blind eye to drug dealing in the border town. Following the chief’s subsequent resignation, Wendover City Council members unanimously approved a $325,000 annual contract with the Sheriff’s Office to take over patrol and investigations in the town.
That move is paying off, according to Councilman Gary Bean.
“We are a year into the contract now and I think the changes have been good,” Bean said. “It seems like the Sheriff’s Office is trying to get more and more involved with the community, and as a result I think there’s been a decrease in crime.”
Bean said the change has even reduced graffiti in the town, which was an almost epidemic problem.
“They caught some juveniles involved with graffiti and that’s been a great thing for us,” Bean said.
Wendover City Mayor Brett Shelton said the increase in personnel that has come with the Sheriff’s Office takeover has resulted in expanded coverage throughout the city, and has provided a police presence at Wendover High School.
“They have started educational programs at the high schools and been able to bring in other programs like the prescription drug drop box,” Shelton said.
The drop box will be posted at the Wendover substation and will be a place where residents can essentially dispose of old prescription medications instead of just tossing them in the trash, where they could be picked up and used by others.
Tooele County Sheriff Frank Park said the changes he’s been able to bring to Wendover are largely the result of increased man hours.
“I think we are working more man hours than they were able to provide before,” Park said. “That’s got to be a deterring factor.”
The former police department had little cover in terms of staffing, according to Park. Now if a Wendover deputy is sick or needs to attend training, another deputy can be transferred in for the day, so patrol doesn’t suffer. Additionally, patrol officers are no longer laden with intensive investigations, as those can now be passed onto the Sheriff’s Office’s investigations department.
In the past, Wendover also struggled with 24-hour coverage, like many smaller cities do. The contract has changed that as well, Park said.
“We’ve been able to augment coverage out there with people from here,” Park said.
When the Sheriff’s Office initially began patrolling Wendover, Park said orienting the four Wendover officers with his office’s policies and procedures took some time. Now, however, even deputies who don’t routinely patrol Wendover full time understand the community, which has a high Hispanic population.
“When we first hired them we wanted to make sure they were familiar with the way we did our reports and things, so we had to swap them out with other deputies while they were being trained, giving our other deputies the opportunity to become familiar with the area as well,” Park said.
The Wendover deputies are grouped with regular county patrol units. This means sergeants over each of the patrol units in the county are in charge of making sure that if the Wendover cop in their group is out because of training or illness another deputy is swapped in.
“We all work together,” Park said.
That includes working with the city council.
“We send an administrator out there for city meetings,” Park said. “I feel like we have a very good relationship with the city council.”
Bean said the fact that a county agency is functioning under the authority of a city government does sometimes present problems — but nothing a little communication can’t fix.
“It’s kind of tough because we have our city ordinances and they have their county ordinances, which conflict sometimes,” Bean said. “But overall I think everything is going well.”
Park said crime in Wendover doesn’t differ much from what his office responds to otherwise.
“They see what any other city might see, just on a smaller scale,” Park said. “The numbers reflect what we do all the time: DUIs, disturbing the peace, juvenile problems, medical assists, drugs, stolen property. The big number is traffic stops.”
Park also said he feels like over the past year crime has decreased in the Utah border town as a result of the takeover.
“They had a good team before, but now they’ve got a bigger department behind them and that makes all the difference,” Park said.
Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com
I said they have the POTENTIAL to do a great job and that they are a LITTLE lazy, which is all true! I never said they don't do their job, just don't do it to their fullest!
The Sheriff's department and highway patrol travel the same distance from Wendover when assisting someone, so whats your point?
I have kids in School, ya we might see them there twice a week, but school is five days a week and sometimes a night! With 24 hr coverage this shouldn't be a problem, as stated in the article!!! If the officers need help it is supposed to be available to them. Why should the community make the schedule of the officers? They know when events are happening in town as well as the rest of us, they should be asking for help!
Come on here! My point was to let everyone know there is still room for improvement. Lets not get too excited, I think the City should be getting more of their moneys worth by having these officers IN TOWN patrolling OUR CITY STREETS and protecting the community of WENDOVER. I respect the job they do!
I think these officers have the potential to do a great job, but with no immediate supervision I believe they have become a little lazy!