The Utah Transit Authority Police Public Safety Department is the law enforcement arm of the

Utah Transit Authority The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is a special service district responsible for providing public transportation throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah, in the United States, which includes the metropolitan areas of Ogden, Utah, Ogden, Park City, U ...

(UTA)

transit district A transit district or transit authority is a government agency or a public-benefit corporation created for the purpose of providing public transportation within a specific region. A transit district may operate bus, rail or other types of ...

in northern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States, with headquarters in Murray. UTA is a public transit district government agency made up of the participating municipalities, counties, and the State of Utah. The UTA Police Department is responsible for law enforcement services, crime investigations, crime prevention, and public safety throughout the

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

and bus transit systems, within the UTA transit district.

UTA governance

In 1969, the

Utah State Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term ...

passed the Utah Public Transit District Act, which allows individual communities to address transportation needs by forming local transit districts. UTA was founded in March 1970 when the cities of Murray,

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, and

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Sandy (surname), a list of people * Sandy (Iranian music band), Iranian singer, comp ...

voted to form a transit district. Today, UTA's service area is over and covers seven counties:

Box Elder ''Acer negundo'', also known as the box elder, boxelder maple, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple, is a species of maple native to North America from Canada to Honduras. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, ash-like compound l ...

, Davis,

Salt Lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

Tooele Tooele ( ) is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 35,742 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Tooele County. Located approximately 40 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City, Tooele is known for Tooele Army ...

, and Weber. Until 2018 UTA was governed by a 15-member part-time

Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. These Trustees Trustees were appointed by the city and county governments that fund UTA with a local option

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

. Local-elected officials may have also served on the UTA Board, and one seat was reserved for a member of the State Transportation Commission, which is part of the

Utah Department of Transportation The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is an agency of the state government of Utah, United States; it is usually referred to by its initials UDOT (pronounced "you-dot"). UDOT is responsible for approximately 5,900 miles (9,495 kilomet ...

. The President of the Senate, Speaker of the House and Governor of the State of Utah each appointed one seat as well. In 2018 due to alleged corruption issues the Utah State Legislature passed a bill organizing UTA with a full-time 3-member board appointed by the Utah State Governor. The Board continually directs agency staff to improve public transit along the

Wasatch Front The Wasatch Front is a major metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from Santaquin in the south to Pleasant View in the n ...

. Board members work with their appointing local representatives to direct UTA so the agency can best meet the needs of individual communities.

History

UTA originally contracted with a private company for security services. In 2003, after several attempts, UTA took control of security services and created the UTA Public Safety Department. The UTA security officers were given the title of Transit Public Safety Officers and they were primarily tasked with conducting fare enforcement and observing and reporting crime to local, county, and state law enforcement agencies. Local municipalities, counties, and state police agencies within the transit district were originally responsible for responding to calls for police services throughout the transit system. In 2006, the Utah State Legislature passed a bill, which granted multi-county transit districts the authority to hire and employ police officers to provide law enforcement services. As of June 2021 UTA is the only multi-county transit district in Utah. In 2006, UTA created the UTA Police Department and the Transit Police Officers were granted state certification as

law enforcement officer A law enforcement officer (LEO), or police officer or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector or private-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws, protecting life & property, keeping the peace, ...

Training

UTA Transit Police Officers are certified as law enforcement officers by the Utah Department of Public Safety Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), and they are required to attend state certified police academies. In addition to completing state police academies, the UTA Transit Police Officers (like all other law enforcement officers in the State of Utah) must receive a minimum of 40 hours of continuous in service training annually, which usually includes legal and policy training, medical and first responder training, firearms and weapons training, defensive tactics, and

use of force The use of force, in the context of law enforcement, may be defined as "the amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject." Multiple definitions exist according to context and purpose. In practical terms, use o ...

training.

Jurisdiction

The UTA Police Department's jurisdiction is UTA transit district property and resources, which includes UTA buildings, maintenance and service centers, train stations, bus stops,

Park and Ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

lots, and any UTA equipment or vehicle. The UTA transit police jurisdiction is also extended onto the right of way of train tracks and twenty feet in and around any UTA property or vehicle. The UTA transit district has a large jurisdiction, from

Utah County Utah County is the second-most populous county in the U.S. state of Utah. The county seat and largest city is Provo, which is the state's fourth-largest city, and the largest outside of Salt Lake County. As of the 2020 United States census ...

on the south to Box Elder County on the north and from Tooele County on the west to Summit County on the east, with

, Davis, and Weber counties in the middle. Although neither Summit County, nor any municipality therein, is a participant in the UTA transit district, UTA transit vehicles do provide service to Park City through a special arrangement with Park City and Summit County.

Laws and procedures

The UTA transit district is governed by the UTA Board of Trustees, who are appointed to the board by the cities, counties, and the state. The Board of Trustees enact ordinances, just as municipal and county councils enact municipal or county codes. UTA ordinances are primarily enforced by Transit Police Officers, although they can also be enforced by other law enforcement agencies. Violators of UTA ordinances, can be issued civil or criminal citations depending on the violation. UTA civil citations, such as

fare evasion Fare evasion or fare dodging is the act of travel without payment on public transit. When considered problematic, it is mitigated by revenue protection officers and ticket barriers, staffed or automatic, are in place to ensure only those with va ...

, are not criminal and are reviewed and administered by a UTA civil administrator. Criminal charges filed by the UTA Police Department are reviewed and administered by the justice court, district court, or federal court in which the offense occurred. Transit Police Officers have the legal authority as law enforcement officers of the State of Utah, to enforce municipal, county, state, and federal laws outside of their jurisdiction.

Department command

The Utah Transit Authority Police Department is managed by the Public Safety Manager who is appointed to the position by the UTA General Manager and the board of trustees. The command structure is made up of the Public Safety Manager, captains, lieutenants, sergeants and officers. The UTA Police Department has sworn law enforcement officers and non-sworn support personnel, which includes dispatchers, office personnel, and security officers. In 2011 UTA considered the possibility of combining its Public Safety Department with the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake (which is headed by the Salt Lake County Sheriff).

Police services

The UTA Transit Police Officers are assigned patrol vehicles, and the department mandates a beat system for them. UTA Transit Police Officers routinely patrol trains, buses, all UTA stations, and UTA rail right-of-ways, as well as conduct fare enforcement. Transit police officers also respond to calls for police services throughout the transit system.

References

External links

{{authority control Utah Transit Authority Transit police departments of the United States Specialist police departments of Utah