Hello council members and Mayor Pulliam. September certainly tested our resolve here at the police department. With the ongoing pandemic and an increase in call volume, we were already busy enough here. During the middle of all of this, the wildfires across our state spread very quickly and we were forced to change direction literally overnight. I was on my annual vacation and had to return early to help lead the police department through this unprecedented time. My team here at the PD went above and beyond during this trying time. Our focus quickly became life safety and the distribution of information to our citizens. We put all of our sworn personnel on mandatory twelve hour shifts and had two of our PIO’s staffed strictly to distribute information and give timely updates to our citizens mostly via social media. As the fires dissipated and teams of our wonderful firefighters were able to gain control of the firelines, we were able go back to normal operating hours. My folks were tired from the many hours worked, but never gave up on the mission. I cannot tell you how proud I am to have such a dedicated team of professionals.

After this incident was over, there were many lessons learned for us. We debriefed with officials, including City Manager Wheeler to discuss these items. During these debriefs, our goal is to talk about what went right and what went wrong. The idea is to learn from mistakes made and discuss ideas to become even better than before. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your support, not just through the wildfire incident, but throughout this whole year.

On to other relevant news. We continue to search for a replacement for an officer who retired earlier this year. That position remains open and we have started another recruitment process in the last couple of weeks. This recruitment will be for that open position in addition to creating a hiring list for possible future vacancies. Unfortunately, I have two officers that have informed me of their intention to leave Sandy PD for other agencies. I have spoke with both of those officers and I will tell you, the reasons for leaving have nothing to do with them being happy at Sandy PD. One officer has family in another state and has applied in that area to be close to family members and the other is hoping to fulfill some lifelong goals and we simply do not offer the position he is hoping to achieve. These two officers are in the hiring process at other agencies so they have not given any notice as of yet but we have to be prepared if this does happen. These are two really great officers and I would hate to lose them but at the same time, I support them in any way I can.

I also would like to inform you that I have one officer on administrative leave. I cannot go into this any further at this time. When our investigation is complete, I will advise appropriate personnel. This has created yet another staffing shortage for the time being but we are working through this.

I hope all of you are enjoying the transition into fall. Have a great week and I will see all of you soon. Chief Roberts