A Salt Lake City Police car parked along the Jordan River Trail near Cottonwood Park during a two-day enforcement operation on Jan. 30, 2025. (Courtesy of Salt Lake City Police Department).
After promising to crack down on illegal camping and drug and gun offenses as part of a sweeping “public safety plan” unveiled to satisfy demands from Utah’s top Republican leaders, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall gave her first update to those efforts Monday.
In the three weeks since enforcement efforts ramped up Jan. 12, Salt Lake City police have sent 460 arrestees to be booked into jail, issued 89 citations for illegal camping, and seized 42 guns, according to city data issued by the mayor’s office.
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“We clearly identified actions to improve public safety, and we’re taking them,” Mendenhall said in a prepared statement. “I’m grateful to our officers and social workers who are helping enhance public safety at high-need areas around the Jordan River Trail, Ballpark neighborhood, and downtown core to ensure they’re safe and welcoming to all.”
As part of her plan unveiled last month, Mendenhall committed to providing regular progress reports to hold the city — and others involved in the criminal justice and homeless systems — accountable. Her administration is also working on building a public dashboard to track the plan’s impacts.
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Her update comes as the 2025 Utah Legislature starts its third week. The session convened last month with an air of tension between Salt Lake City and Republican lawmakers, as Mendenhall presented her plan in response to a call from Utah’s top Republican leaders — Gov. Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams — who sent her a letter Dec. 13 expressing frustrations with “disorder” in Salt Lake City and calling the Salt Lake City Police Department “ineffective.”
“If your plan demonstrates the decisive leadership and results needed to resolve these issues, we will work to strengthen and sustain your efforts through legislative action,” the three leaders wrote in their letter. “However, if progress stalls or alignment cannot be achieved, the legislature is prepared to move forward with legislation to increase state involvement and oversight during the upcoming session.”
It’s early, but initial data is already illustrating a longstanding issue that Mendenhall highlighted in her plan, in which she issued a call to other city, county and state leaders to work together to address.
One of the biggest puzzle pieces Mendenhall urged action on is a need to increase Salt Lake County jail capacity — an issue that’s created frustrations for police when offenders they arrest are instantly and repeatedly released because of jail overcrowding.
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Since the onset of 2025, Salt Lake City police officers have booked two people into jail four separate times each, and another person three times, according to the mayor’s office. Additionally, two other people booked into jail have also received four separate citations.
The mayor’s spokesman said it’s unclear how many of the total 460 bookings are still in jail or have been released. He said that information would need to be tabulated by hand from jail data.
“As the Public Safety Plan recommends, data from the Salt Lake County Jail, the local criminal justice system, and state partners is needed to more fully understand the outcomes of SLCPD arrests and better address gaps in the system,” the mayor’s office said in Monday’s news release.
Drug seizures and arrests
As part of the crackdown, city officials say Salt Lake City police are “taking an aggressive approach targeting fentanyl traffickers and violent offenders to disrupt criminal activity.”
Salt Lake City police have also seized 39 grams of methamphetamine, 1,004 grams of cocaine, 1,838 grams of marijuana, 36,000 grams of dab (concentrated THC), 1,567 fentanyl pills, and 660 THC cartridges.
The increased enforcement efforts include more foot and bike patrols downtown, in the Ballpark neighborhood, and along North Temple street and the Jordan River Trail.
“Our Public Safety Plan calls for action and accountability, and that’s exactly what we’re delivering on through our expanded foot and bike patrols, targeted investigations, and data-driven enforcement,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said in a prepared statement.
He said as part of the new public safety plan, Salt Lake City officers have arrested “fentanyl dealers, repeat offenders, and those in possession of illegal firearms, many of whom were already on probation or parole.”
“We want to make it very clear — our officers are committed to protecting our residents, our businesses, and our city from crime,” Brown said.
The police department is also using data to “focus resources on local crime hotspots,” according to city officials, while also providing outreach to those experiencing homelessness or mental or behavioral health issues that may be contributing to their circumstances.
“Officers continue to enforce the law while recognizing with enforcement must be a balance with outreach,” city officials said in Monday’s release. “This is why licensed clinical social workers support the work of patrol officers by embedding mental health professionals to provide immediate crisis intervention and a path to recovery.”
In recent days, the Salt Lake City Police Department has also been issuing detailed updates on their efforts. On Sunday, the department reported 22 arrests that took place that weekend for people “suspected of violent offenses, drug-related crimes and property-related offenses.”
“This isn’t a one-time push,” Brown said. “This is the work our officers are doing — and have been doing — every single day of the year. Our officers are out enforcing the law and building stronger relationships with our community, and I’m proud of their work.”
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