Chief Darren Paul — 31 Years Serving Lehi & the Future of Community Policing
Full Conversation Transcript
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Welcome to Roots and Branches of Lehi, the podcast where we get to know the faces, stories, and lives that make up
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our community. I'm Ryan Harding, and I started this podcast as a way for us all to connect with the people we live
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alongside. Growing up in a small town, I learned that connections go beyond blood. They're built through shared
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experiences, friendships, and the moments we celebrate together. Each week, we'll sit down with someone new
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from Lehi to share their unique story, their passions, and what they love most about living here. So whether you've
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been here for years or just arrived, join us as we deepen our roots and reach
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out to our branches one story at a
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time. Welcome Darren Paul to the the Roots and Branches of Lehi podcast. So
Meet Darren Paul: Lehi's Police Chief
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welcome. I'm glad you have you on the show here. Oh, thank you very much. It's an honor. Yeah. No, this is fun. So So
Darren Paul's Journey in Law Enforcement
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you're the the police chief of Lehigh City, right? Yes, that's right. Okay. And how long have you been doing that for? So I was I was hired as the chief
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in November of 2014. So Okay. Okay. So that's a good amount of time then. Yeah.
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Okay. What did you do before that? Before that worked in Lehi. I I was a police lieutenant before that and just
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an officer. I started working in 1994. Okay. The police department. So And of
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Lehi? Yes. Okay. So you you've been around Lehi for a long time then I guess. Yeah. 30 31 years in July with
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Lehigh City Police Department. Okay. And and are you from here? Where are you from? I'm from Pleasant Grove, actually,
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but my wife is from Lehi. Oh, okay. So, yeah, makes sense. She she brought you over this way, right? Do you Now, do you
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live in Lehi or where you We do. Yeah, we we as soon as we got married, we bought a home in Lehi and have been here
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ever since. Okay. Okay. Well, that's good. Well, so then, you know, tell me about a little bit of your journey to
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become the police chief. I mean, is that something you always wanted to to do? is, you know, like, hey, that that's the
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career path or tell me. I didn't necessarily aspire to be the police chief, but wanted to be a police
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officer. So, growing up in Pleasant Grove, my father was a police officer there. Okay. And for 37 years for
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Pleasant Grove City. Wow. And so, just growing up and having admiration for him and seeing how he interacted in the
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community and and the good that that he did, I I grew up and and decided I
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wanted to get into law enforcement. and he actually pointed me towards Lehi. He knew he knew some of the police officers
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here. Okay. And had a good relationship with them. Felt like it was a good fit for me and Okay. So, kind of steered me
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this direction and I've been here ever since. Okay. So, that that's I guess
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obviously what inspired you to go into law enforcement too was your dad then I guess, right? That's right. I mean, it
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makes sense. Yeah. So, what you know, you you you've been doing this now. You've been you know, police chief for a
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long time. You've been in law enforcement for a long time. Tell me what what defines your your, you know,
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your career now, I guess, as as the police chief. What what would you say some of the things that you've
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accomplished, I guess, during that time? Well, I I think the biggest thing that I've seen in Lehi is just the growth and
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the change due to the growth. Poling early in my career is a lot different
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than it is now. Okay. And how so? Well, I think that a lot of technology
Technological Advances in Policing
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advances. I when I first started, we didn't have cell phones. We didn't have internet access. We didn't have any of
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that stuff. So, yeah, just having cell phones, computers in our cars, and all
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of the modern technology that we use now as far as, you know, dealing with crime and dealing with population growth and
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stuff. That's probably been the biggest change. Society-wise, I think the biggest change that I've seen is just
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social media and how fast information gets out and so how quickly we have to
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be able to respond and when when we're dealing with a situation in Lehi, get information out to the public and get
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accurate information out. It's been a real challenge. Sure. Because it's not always accurate, right? Sometimes that false information spreads a little
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quicker than the true information. That's right. Yeah. gets out really quick. And so we have to be prepared to
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get accurate information out as quick as we can and inform the community as to
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things that are happening and how they can be safe or or how they can react to it. Now you mentioned, you know, the
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internet technology, stuff like that. When I normally think of police, I think of, you know, going down the the road
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and, you know, in a police car and stuff like that, but you also have people that that monitor things on the internet or
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do different things there, I guess. Well, we we have social media platforms and we do try to monitor. We don't have
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somebody there all the time monitoring. Okay. Still that the quickest way to get an officer of course is to call into
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dispatch. Okay. Of course, 911 for emergencies, but that's the quickest way to get us and and to get us to respond.
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But we do have a social media platforms that we we try to follow and watch and
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respond quickly there too. Okay. Now, how many how many people do you lead there that So, we we have 67 full-time
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officers right now and a a small civilian staff at the police department. When I started, I guess just for
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context, when I started in '94, there were 10 officers in Lehi. Okay. And they
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hired two of us in '94, Lieutenant Toby Peterson and myself. He was number 11 and I was number 12. We're now up to 67
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full-time officers. Wow. So, and for a time were you also handling Saratoga
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Springs and Eagle Mountain for a little bit too? Well, before before Saratoga Springs was incorporated, it was in the
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county. Okay. And we didn't patrol there per se, but we did act as a backup. And
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so, we would we would be out there quite often in a backup role. Okay. Okay. But not anymore. Obviously, now they're
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incorporated. They have their own Yeah. Now, now the Eagle Mountain is still contracted with the county. Saratoga
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Springs has their own police department. Okay. Okay. What's it like to lead 67
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police officers? I mean, you know, is that is that an easy task? Do they all have their own opinions? Are they pretty in line? How does that how does that So,
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we're very lucky in Lehi. We have great officers. We have really good officers, and we're structured in such a way. It
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it would be overwhelming for one person to lead that many people, but we're structured in a paramilitary way, okay,
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where they they're made the teams are made up of sergeants and officers and
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lieutenants and so the the supervision is kind of distributed a little bit that
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way. Makes it a little more manageable. Okay. So you so you actually have So how many people actually report directly to
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you then? So I have an a deputy chief that that I work with real closely and
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then we have lieutenants. So, we have three divisions in the police department. We have our patrol division,
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which is what you think of most often when you think of police officers. They're the guys in the uniforms that
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are driving the marked police cars. Yeah. And that's the biggest division. There's 42 officers in that division.
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Okay. And they are led by two lieutenants and then the lieutenants are
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report to me on the admin staff. So, and then the other divisions are an
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investigation division and they're they're divided up into teams as well. Property crimes, special victim crimes,
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and school resource officers and code enforcement. And then that division is
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also led by a lieutenant that reports to me. And then the third division is what we call professional standards. And they
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handle our recruiting, our hiring, our internal investigations, stuff like that. making sure that we are following
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all the policies and procedures and case laws and all of those things. And so what is like what is your your typical
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day look like or your or typical week? I mean what so generally start off on Monday and pull in all the admin the
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lieutenants and we we kind of talk about first what happened over the weekend
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maybe what we have that week going on and we get a report from each lieutenant from each division as to what's
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occurring in their divisions and and maybe information we need to follow up on any cases that we're actively
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investigating. And so we'll spend our the first part of our week is doing that. Okay. And then also on Mondays I
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will do go over some of the budget items working with my executive assistant to kind of make sure all of that's taken
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care of and really responding to calls that come in. And then on Tuesdays, it I
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meet with the the city has their senior staff meeting on Tuesdays and that that
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consists of all the department heads meeting with city administration and the mayor and it's a very similar meeting.
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We we maybe go over the agenda for city council. If there's any if there's any
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issue or something in a particular department that we could all discuss, we'll talk about that. Okay. So that and
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then that's what Tuesdays look like. And then Wednesdays I meet again with the lieutenants, but we meet individually to
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discuss individual division issues that come up. And so we'll spend time talking
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about case load, maybe active cases. We have some of the we'll maybe discuss
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some of the requests for extra patrol or extra attention to certain areas and
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we'll kind of devise a plan for doing that. And then also on Wednesdays I meet one-on-one with the city manager and
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whatever it is we have to discuss. And then Thursdays it's just kind of being
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being fluid enough to deal with what has come in and and what we're working on that week. And that's kind of how our
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weeks look. Well, so tell me then, you know, obviously the police department is
Community Engagement and Outreach
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part of the community, right? And so how how do you how do you work with the community? What what kind of things do
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you guys do to kind of outreach? I mean, I know I've seen, you know, I have kids at school and I've seen, you know, police officers there at at at their
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school at times and stuff like that, like, you know, doing end of the year wards and different things like that, but I mean, I'll let you speak to that,
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I guess. What What do you guys How do you So, we have a presence in the schools. We we are in the high schools
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and middle schools with our school resource officers. They're dedicated officers that spend their their workday
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there, and they work with school administrators to deal with basically any kind of school problem that might
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come up. that's that's officer or police related. We also teach the NOVA program
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in the in the younger schools and and try to teach kids life skills for some
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of the challenges they may face as they get older. And so we we spend time there. And then we do a lot of uh we do
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we host a a citizen academy every year and that's a eight-week course where we
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invite citizens of Lehi to come in and experience a little bit of what what it's like to be a police officer. So
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we'll spend time each week for eight weeks talking about patrol investigations and and give them a taste
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of of that kind of stuff. And it's just an open class to whoever wants to enroll kind of thing. Yeah, it's we we host it
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once a year. It usually is in the winter time. Mhm. And we host we can take about
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25 people. Okay. And we advertise it on our social media platforms. Yeah. And
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it's open to any Lehigh citizen that is interested. So, does it fill up pretty generally? Yeah, we usually have pretty
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good classes and and the feedback we get is very positive. And so, so we do that
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and then in addition to that, we we do civilian ride alongs. Sometimes people
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want to come out ride and kind of get an idea of what it's like to be a police officer in Lehi. A lot of younger kids
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that are looking to get into law enforcement as a profession. Yeah. We also teach a law enforcement class the
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local high schools to try to give people the opportunity to to know what it's like to be a peace officer in Lehigh. So
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any kind of social outreach or community event that we can be a part of, we we
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love to do it. Yeah. Yeah, I remember I went to my cousin is a police officer. He's from Pleasant Grove, too. Carter is
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his last name and I got to ride along with him one time. It was kind of fun. So, at anyhow, it I I it's an
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interesting experience to be in the car there and and something I think a lot of people should get to do. Yeah, it is a
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it's a it's a unique opportunity to see from an officer's perspective what goes on. And sometimes it's it's slow and
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there's not a lot going on and sometimes it's so busy that it it it's hard to keep up. Sure. Well, and speaking of
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busy, we so my kids attend Lehigh High School. Tell me like obviously that's something recently that happened and
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stuff like that. H how were you involved much in in the lockdown that took place and everything like and what's that like
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to go through that experience? Yeah, so that's we have a lot of different protocols. When when something as
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serious as a school lockdown happens, it it involves all of us. There's a lot of
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there's a lot of things to get through. Typically, as as the chief and as an administrator, we would form a command
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post and then I would go there along with district leaders, school leaders, and then we would establish, you know, a
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a place for parents, a a pickup zone, a drop off zone. We would establish an area for rendering aid to those that
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that might get hurt. Fortunately, fortunately, in this most recent one, we didn't have to deal with all of that
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stuff, but it's a it's a matter of working with school officials to resolve
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the issue and then reunite kids with parents and get them home safe. So, so
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yeah, when those calls come in, they involve all of us. That makes sense. It's all all hands on deck kind of
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thing, I guess, right? So, okay. Well, that's I love the things that you're doing with the community. That's more
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than I thought even, you know, with some of those classes and different things like that. And I think it, you know, people really like that neighborly part
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of, you know, where where police are really kind of part of the community and trying to, you know, hey, we're we're
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side by side. We live here. We, you know, Yeah. Well, we we rely on our community, you know, they're the eyes
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and ears of of the police department. There's 67 of us, and in a big city like this, it's it's helpful to get feedback
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from what they're seeing in their neighborhoods, in their community. you know, if if we have that relationship
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where they're comfortable reaching out to us, then it helps us to be more effective, too. So, anything we can do
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to to develop that relationship, we really try to. Good. Is is policing here
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in Lehi different than other cities? I mean, you know, maybe not different than some cities around us, but like Salt
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Lake versus, you know, here. I mean, yeah, I I would say that in a lot of ways we're similar, but there are things
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that make Lehi unique. Okay. And I think what makes Lehi unique is the it's a
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growing city, but it still has a small town community feel. And I I guess
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that's a credit to the people that live here that are still neighborly and friendly and they want to be involved.
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They want to have a relationship with their police department and the other departments in the city. They want to be
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included in their community operations and decisions and stuff like that. And so it makes a real nice opportunity for
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us to gather feedback from them and then try to make sure that we're uh meeting
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their needs too. Good. Good. Has you know I I guess how have you then adapted
Adapting to Lehi's Rapid Growth
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to the rapid growth that that Lehi has experienced? Is that I mean you mentioned obviously you've grown so you
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have more more police officers but is there other things you have to do to to adapt to such a growing city or Well
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there's a lot of challenges with it. You know, we we are trying to keep up as far as manpower goes, but there are other
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things we can do. We we recently started a online reporting system where people
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can report things online and start the process of a police report and they can
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just go to the city website and link to the police department and file a report
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that way. Okay. And then we have an officer that is assigned to those for any kind of followup. And sometimes
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that's a little quicker than waiting for an officer to be available to to come out to the house. Sure. And stuff like
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that. And we still do that as much as we can, but it's just another opportunity for people to to report things to us
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that they can, you know, do quicker that, you know, and I assume those would be for kind of non-emergency kind of
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things, right? Things that like, hey, we you know, something got stolen, I guess, right? Certainly. The these are for
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delayed reports, any crime in progress or anything like that. we would say call 911 and we'll get there immediately. But
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these are for the things that are a little bit delayed or maybe they just need a case number to report to their
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insurance or stuff like that and there's not a lot of followup and a lot not a lot of immediate police response
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necessary. Sure. So, it's just a way for them to call in and get it reported
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without us having to send out an officer to respond. So, it helps with the case load. And then there there are other
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just small things that we're trying to do to to keep up with the growth. Sure. What Well, and I guess kind of
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expounding on that a little bit, top priorities that you have. I mean, obviously no crime, you know, but but I
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mean, like, are there certain areas that you focus on more, I guess, in the city? Well, I I mean, obviously our our
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biggest concern is safety of of the citizens. Okay. And so the biggest I
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guess the the biggest challenge we're dealing with associated with growth is the traffic issues and and responding to
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traffic accidents and stuff like that. And so we're we're doing some different things like this year for example we we
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just started a motors program. Okay. Well started at the end of last summer and then getting it going again this
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year with an additional officer. But these these motorcycle officers will have the ability to circumvent some of
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the traffic, the congested areas on 2100 North or Pioneer Crossing for example,
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and get through it a little quicker and then get to the problem. So, we're excited about that opportunity.
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And so, that's a new program. You said motors program, that's motorcycles then, I guess. Yeah, motorcycles. And it's a
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it's a new thing that other communities have have tried them and had success with them. and we we are just starting
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down that avenue. So, we're excited about that. Okay, good. Yeah. And I guess speaking of Lehi's, you know, I I
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look at Lehi, it seems like a very low crime city, you know, but I know also
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that, you know, we don't always report everything, right, to you know, and I think that's on purpose, right? I think tell me, you know, is Lehi pretty no
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crime? Like, I mean, is it speak to that? I always explain it this way. Lehi is a safe place to live. Okay. And and
Community Safety and Call Statistics
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we're fortunate that way. Sure. But we I would say to scale, we see things
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similar to what they see in other communities. Sure. So, for example, this this last year, we took 41,000 calls for
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service. Okay. And not not every call is an emergency call. Not every call is a high priority. Sure. You know, where
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somebody is in danger, but 41,000 calls of of all sorts. Yeah. And it's very
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similar to what you see in other communities, other cities. We do have,
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unfortunately, we deal with domestic violence and stuff like that. We deal with drugs and narcotics. You know,
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unfortunately, we just like everybody else, we see our share of that stuff. But I would say because of the community
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and because of the relationship that we have here, it's still a very safe place.
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the city will send out a a survey every year, okay, as part of the budget, kicking off the budget process, and they
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ask questions of the community like, "How safe do you feel in Lehi?" And historically, we get pretty good reports
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back that generally people feel safe here, and I think that's great. Yeah. No, I I I know I do. Yeah. So, but yeah.
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Okay, that's good. So, so let's speak about the new, you know, hires and stuff
Recruitment and Hiring Practices
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like that. what you know so if somebody you know if a somebody's thinking about becoming a police officer what what do
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you look for in in in those people? Okay so what I mentioned the law enforcement class in the high school we we try we we
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want our officers to know the community as much as they can even in even as far
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back as the NOVA program or back in the day when I started it was the DARE program. Okay. And so we when we
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recruit, we do look for people that are in have come up in the community. We've
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had a lot of success hiring people from Lehi, the the young kids from Lehi that
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we have somehow developed a relationship with them from a very early age. And so
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they seem to understand the community, the cultural values and and the kind of
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culture that we have at the police department. And so we look for those kids. We also will sometimes recruit
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officers from from other departments that come in with a little bit of experience and and that's great, too.
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But when we can find a local kid that's grown up here, that's invested in the
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community, that has family here, it's it's usually a really good match. That's good. And And do you have any problems
Challenges in Law Enforcement Recruitment
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getting police officers? I mean, are you are you turning people away or is it like, hey, you know, we have a position
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that hasn't been filled for a while. So, we're we're fully staffed, but that's that's pretty rare in today's day and
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age because there's not a lot of people getting into law enforcement. Yeah. And there's a lot of growth everywhere
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throughout the state. Sure. And so, it's a really competitive market right now. Oh, it is. And it's and it's hard to
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find the right people. But I feel like because of the culture here and the
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community support that we have in Lehi and the good the growth and the good
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things that people see about Lehi in general, it makes Lehi an attractive place to to come to work. And so we're
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very fortunate that we're able to say stay staffed right now. A lot of agencies around us are struggling with
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that. Even here in Utah or just nationally? Oh yeah, everywhere. In fact, we recently teamed up with all of
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the Utah the state chiefs in Utah and did a a recruitment campaign nationwide
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trying to draw more people into the state of Utah to specifically get into law enforcement and stuff. So, we're
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we've kind of been involved in that as well. Okay. it is. So, yeah, let's speak
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to that a little bit because obviously, you know, during, you know, like COVID time, you know, there was different things nationally and stuff like that
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and, you know, like I know Minnesota defunded the police or different things like that. Did you see some of that here
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locally, some of that that did did you have to deal with kind of low morale
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amongst your officers where, hey, you know, we're doing good, but nobody likes us or or or the perception is no one
Community Support During National Challenges
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likes us. So that's I I think that's again where Lehi was a little bit unique because we felt an overwhelming feeling
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of support from our community. We did through social media and different things, we did receive questions and or
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concerns from people, you know, how are you addressing these issues more along the lines with what they see nationally.
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Sure. But our local community rallied around the officers and really showed their support and you know it it was
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very helpful for us during a very challenging time nationally. Sure. Yeah. Well, it speaks I guess to the I mean
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two things. Number one, the community that we have is is a lot of good people that really do understand a police's
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role and and and want to support you. But then I think it also speaks to the fact that you also are very good in the
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community. I mean, I think that that brings a lot of goodwill, you know, going to the schools, being a part of these things. You're you're I have to
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think that that had an impact on why the community liked you. Yeah. I I I would give the credit to the officers and the
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work that they do to to show their support in the community and the relationship with the community. We're
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we're very fortunate here. We have fantastic officers and they really do work hard to maintain that relationship
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with the community. That's great. That's And I I I guess I'll say this. That's not to say we don't sometimes make
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mistakes. Sure. Or we can't learn from things, but our officers are very willing to learn and grow and and so
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we're lucky that way, too. Good. Good. Do you So, you know, somebody that wants to get into law enforcement, I assume
Training and Career Development
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you have ongoing training and different things like that. What does that look like? So, we're constantly recruiting
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officers and work with the localmies. UVU's academy just recently relocated
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here in Lehi at the Thanksgiving Point campus. And so, it's really nice to have them so close. Yeah. And we send
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officers into themies to help teach and then also recruit a little bit for the
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PD. But, yeah, we we're involved in that stuff. And what we we look for the the
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local kids with the the local care and and concern for Lehigh citizens, but we
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also encourage them to get degrees, you know, work to to further their career.
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And then we have we have both statemandated training that occurs annually and then we also we're really
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try to to develop the officers professionally. And so we have opportunities for them to to specialize
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in certain things and and to receive training in those areas too. And so what
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I mean going back to that candidate, what like if I if I'm a young, you know, high schooler and I'm trying to figure
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out, you know, hey, do I want to go to, you know, college? Do I want to go to a trade school? Do I want to just go to
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work? Like what what what's the path? I guess if I'm in high school and I want to become a police officer, what's the
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path to to get there? Would that was that straight out of high school? Is that some kind of training? So, you have
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to be 21 to enter the academy. Okay. But if if we were to be approached by a high school kid that expressed interest, the
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first thing we would do would be invite them to the PD to get to know the officers a little bit. We would invite
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them on some ride alongs so that they kind of get a feel for what the officers see and develop a relationship with the
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officers. And then we also would invite them to that that citizen academy that I talked about. That's a great that's a
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great resource for somebody that thinks they might be interested to okay get a little bit of taste for it. But we so we
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provide these opportunities and then we're in contact with them and we try to help them get into the academy, get
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everything, you know, get enrolled and all of that stuff. Sure. And then we assign a mentor from our PD to go with
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that candidate to kind of act as a liaison to help them. And so our our
26:51
hope is that they get a feel for what it is, what law enforcement is, and at the same time understand what our culture is
26:58
in our PD and and our emphasis on community policing and stuff like that.
27:03
So we hope to keep them in Lehi, but they're also being recruited by some of the neighboring cities and and other
27:10
agencies and stuff like that. But we hope that by the time they get to there where they're making a decision where
27:16
they want to go that we've had enough of a relationship with them that they choose us. It's I I guess you could
27:22
compare it to recruiting and college athletics or something like that. Sure. So yeah, that makes sense. And what like
27:29
as far as you know starting salaries and different things like that, what you know what is a a starting salary for a
27:35
you know and you can keep it semi- generic. I don't know how specific you want to be on that but Yeah. So I I I
27:41
mean I would just say compared to other agencies and and other law enforce we're pretty competitive there. And so in Salt
27:48
Lake County, they they pay a little different than Utah County generally,
27:53
but we're still pretty competitive. And we hope that that where we're
27:59
competitive with wages, we also hope that we bring other things to the table in terms of community involvement,
28:04
community policing, and stuff like that. We also offer benefits as far like our
28:10
health benefits and our other things that the city provides are are I would say better than most. And then our
28:19
facilities that that we have to to develop. So if you're if you want to develop your skills and and have
28:26
opportunities for specialties, I think we offer a lot of that that other agencies don't. So the whole package I
28:34
think makes Lehi a pretty attractive place to work. Okay. What about, you know, obviously as an officer sometimes
Officer Wellness and Mental Health
28:40
you see things that that that are hard to see, I guess, is is maybe just the best way to say that. How do you how do
28:46
you help your officers mental health or mental health health, their well-being, you know, kind of to get through some of
28:52
the because I'm I'm guessing sometimes that's that'd be hard to see some of those things, right? Yeah. And I'm glad you brought this up. This is a really
28:58
big issue for law enforcement, not only Lehi, but statewide and nationwide. And
29:03
so the state requires mental health services. So we we provide mental health
29:09
services as provided by state code, but we even go beyond that where I was
29:15
approached one time by a local physician that wanted to donate time and he comes
29:21
in every week and helps them with injuries and and things that might be
29:27
causing discomfort and stuff. So in addition to mental health services that we provide, we we contract with mental
29:34
health professionals to to provide that for the officers, we also have a peer support group where the officers can
29:40
speak to their peers in a safe protected environment. And then we have a this medical doctor that comes in and offers
29:47
his medical expertise and services that he just volunteers. And so the whole
29:52
package is a really nice officer wellness package that I think Lehi
29:57
provides. And and again that I I think that's a credit to a professional doctor
30:03
in the community that wants to get involved and and you know do something for the the police department. So we're
30:09
lucky to have that kind of a resource. Yeah. And so and so I just spoke on the hard things you know. Tell me like are
Memorable Moments and Technological Advances
30:16
there some you because you have a long career here, right? you know, not just as police chief, but but what are there
30:23
some things that stand out in your career that's like, okay, hey, I did good there or that or that or or maybe
30:28
you didn't, but you were part of it in some way, you know? Tell me tell me some of those those happier moments. Well, I
30:34
I don't know that I I just know when when we're called to an emergency, and
30:39
it can be just about anything, when at the end of the day, when we're able to
30:44
protect somebody and the officers all go home safe, then, you know, I would
30:50
consider that a win. And it's a really good feeling to know that they were able to respond, that they were prepared,
30:56
that they had the right equipment and the right skills, that they were able to handle whatever the situation was and do
31:03
it safely and get get the family or the person individual taken care of and then
31:09
get themselves home safely. That's that's that's the best feeling for me. Yes. No. and that and and obviously you
31:16
have I mean I the safety record of the police here seems to be very good, right? a minute. So, yeah. And I mean,
31:22
unfortunately, we we've had our our moments. In 2001, we lost Officer Adams,
31:29
and that was a really hard thing for us to to experience, of course, and and
31:34
still is, but I feel like it was also a turning point maybe for Lehi where we we
31:43
were able to get more resources and more devote more stuff to officer safety. And
31:50
then in 2008, we had Captain Harold Terry was injured in the line of duty. And so we've had we've had brushes with
31:57
tragedy for sure. But but yeah, we've we've been able to learn from those
32:03
things and hopefully make the community safer for everybody. That's great. You
32:08
mentioned, you know, technology and different things like that. Is is technology helping with make things more
32:14
safety? I, you know, safe for you guys and stuff like that. I mean, you got cameras, different things like that. How how how would you say technology is kind
32:21
of helping keep officers safe and keep the public safe? Yeah. So, I I would I mean there's a lot of different ways.
32:27
The the technology has also made it to where we're responding faster. So, we
32:34
might be at a crime in progress quicker than we would have otherwise. Okay.
32:40
Whereas in in the old days when I started you we would get there after the fact. Sure. But with technology and the
32:47
way we can get information out, we're there on scene much quicker. You mentioned cameras. They're very helpful
32:53
in preserving the crime scene and also recording things from an officer's
32:58
vantage point. And so cameras have been helpful. We we have now optics on our
33:05
firearms that allow us to to shoot more accurately with our guns. And and also
33:13
when we are encountering somebody and we have to have our guns out, we we can
33:18
focus more on the individual rather than maybe the sights of the gun, if that
33:24
makes sense. But just just different advances and different things that we've been able to incorporate that have made
33:31
our job safer and been safer for the community because of that. Those are
33:36
just a couple of examples. Back to officer wellness. We we putting suppressors and stuff on our rifles to
33:42
preserve their hearing. Okay. You know, stuff like that just for quality of life for life beyond law enforcement, you
33:49
know. So Sure. Which there is life beyond law enforcement. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. You know, early in my career, I
33:55
was involved in the major crimes task force in the county, and we did a lot of
34:01
taking down cladestine meth labs. Oh, really? And there was a lot of hazardous
34:06
chemicals and and things like that. Unfortunately, we didn't understand those the way we do now. Okay. And so,
34:13
we didn't always have the protective equipment to handle those things back then that the way they handle them now.
34:19
So again, just just learning and adapting with technology to make everyone's job safer, which obviously
34:26
that's the goal, right? We want to keep everyone safe. What long term? Obviously, you've been in this position for a little while. You know, if you
Future of Lehi Police Department
34:33
fast forward 10 years, 20 years from now, where where do you where do you see Lehi Police Department's future? Well, I
34:40
I'm optimistic with the Lehi's growth and and the way that new with growth, I
34:46
think, comes opportunities. I mean, there are challenges of course, but I feel like we're able to do things and
34:52
provide specialties that other agencies that maybe aren't growing as fast, they they can't provide those things. So, I
34:59
think there's a lot of opportunity for the young officers that are coming in to develop their skills in specialized
35:05
areas and then be able to use those skills to serve the community. And I think that's when I look 10 years down
35:13
the road, I think there's just a lot of movement and a lot of growth and stuff for the officers. That's great. And do
Collaboration with Fire Department
35:20
you just a question the the police the the police department and the fire department, they work well together? Do
35:27
you guys you guys do you know? Yeah, we have a great relationship with our fire department. They're they're good guys.
35:33
They're led by Chief Craft. He's a great chief and and it works well with us. So,
35:38
we've always enjoyed our relationship. When I first started, the fire department was a volunteer fire
35:44
department. Great guys, and and as the city has grown, they've grown into a full-time fire and paramedic program.
35:52
And yeah, they're great to work with. Good. So, no rivalry sometimes. No. Well, I wouldn't say no rivalry, but
35:58
we're good. We get along. But you get along great. Perfect. Yes. I mean, you know, as Okay, that's great. I like that
36:03
answer. So, Chief, is there anything that we haven't covered that you wanted to cover, you know, that you want to
36:10
bring up as part of what what you guys are doing? Well, and I'm just I'm grateful to be a part of this. I I've
36:16
been in Lehi now 31 years, and I've loved my time here, and I'm grateful
36:22
that we're doing more to preserve the history because there's so many great officers before that that unfortunately
36:30
I don't know a lot of their history, and I wish that I knew more of that stuff. So, I'm grateful that that we're taking
36:36
the time to record this and talk about that. But my time in Lehi has been wonderful and just appreciate the the
36:43
friendships I've made, the connections I've had, and the opportunities that it's given me. And and I hope that that
36:50
we're hitting everyone's expectation here in Lehi. Well, I think you're doing great. Yeah. I mean, it's a great city
36:55
and and obviously, you know, you're one part of the the the puzzle that you know that there's many people that are
37:01
working to make this a great community, but obviously you play a big role there. So, we appreciate your work and your
37:07
service and and all those that serve with you. I think they're doing a great job. So, thank you. It is a safe city.
37:12
It feels safe to me. And I know my my kids have, you know, a good relationship with the police, which is nice, you
37:19
know, as opposed to, you know, not I don't It just seems like sometimes it can be adversarial and and I don't feel
37:25
like that's the case here. Well, we really focus on making our interactions positive and it's it almost goes without
37:33
saying because that's how our officers feel. They they want to have those same positive interactions. Sure. I talked
37:38
about the citizen academy and how great that is, the feedback, but the truth is the officers love doing it, too. They
37:45
love showing people what it is to be a police officer in Lehi. And so they look forward to those opportunities as well.
Community Engagement and Youth Programs
37:52
And do is do you have youth groups ever come, you know, to to I don't know if
37:57
tour is the right word, but do you ever have that abil I mean, I know the community program and stuff like that, but Yeah, we So we have a lot of youth
38:04
groups that come and tour the building. We have inside of our building, we're very fortunate. We have a a virtual use
38:11
of force simulator and it's actually owned by all of Utah County law enforcement collectively, but we house
38:18
it here in Lehi because we have room for it. And so we bring in youth groups, we bring in elected officials, community
38:25
groups, um, school groups, and we give them an opportunity to try the simulator
38:31
and that gives them just an idea of some of the things that we encounter and that's been a positive experience too.
38:37
Tell tell elaborate on that. What is that? What is that uh simulator? What? So, it's a it's a computer run
38:44
simulator. It's it's got screens project. It's projected and it and it has different scenarios, different use
38:51
of force scenarios. Now, we we use it for deescalation purposes. That's primarily what it's used for. So the the
38:59
person that's experiencing the simulator is up on a platform kind of a stage surrounded 300 degrees by screens and
39:07
they interact with people on the screens and then there's a person on a computer that's controlling the scenario based on
39:15
cues that they get from how the officer is reacting. And it uses fire, it uses
39:21
handguns, it uses the other tools that we would use, tasers, pepper spray,
39:26
stuff like that. But the whole goal is to put somebody in a situation that can be uncomfortable and then see how well
39:33
they deescalate and bring something to a peaceful resolution. Sure. So the
39:38
operator can can amp it up or or bring it down depending on how well the
39:44
officer is doing. And it's a great opportunity for for people to just see
39:49
how fast officers have to make split-second decisions. Sure. Life or death sometimes. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And
39:56
Yeah. Wow. That's awesome. And so that's so for the whole county it's right here in Lehi. Yeah. So it's it's here in Lehi
40:01
and you'll see if you go by the PD you'll sometimes you'll see other agencies cars parked out front or and
40:08
generally that's what they're doing. They're in there training on the simulator and stuff. So but yeah, we
40:13
have it right here and we make it available to the public that want to come and experience it too. And so if a
40:18
youth group wants to go and and tour and get a kind of a you know just for an hour night hour night hourong night
40:26
youth group they would just contact the police department. I would say just reach out to the police department and
40:31
we can schedule that. We we do it quite often. Okay. That's awesome. Okay. Well, thank you. Thanks for coming on and
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
40:37
again I've learned a lot and and hopefully the community does too and and we appreciate again what you're doing.
40:42
All right. Thank you very much. So thank you. Thank you for joining us on Roots and Branches of Lehi. I hope today's
40:49
story helped you feel a little more connected to the people who make up our community. Remember, every person here
40:54
has a unique story, and together we're what makes Lehi feel like home. If you
40:59
know someone who would be a great fit for this podcast, please fill out the form in the show notes so we can reach out and schedule an interview. We'd love
41:06
to hear from you. A big thank you to our sponsors, the Work Harding Home Mortgage team and Play Harding Nightly Vacation
41:12
Rentals for supporting this show and helping us bring our community closer together. Until next time, keep growing
41:18
those roots and reaching out to your branches. Take care.
