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Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, alongside the Democratic Mayors Association and Democratic mayors across the country, is participating in “Mayors Stopping Crime,” a nationwide effort in which mayors from big cities and small towns alike are taking action against rising crime and gun violence to make their communities safer. As part of this initiative, Mayor Mendenhall is highlighting Salt Lake City’s ongoing commitment to rooting out crime, including recent efforts that have proven successful. 

Democratic mayors across the country have been on the frontlines of the national gun violence epidemic, supporting community-based violence intervention programs, taking guns off the streets and keeping them out of the hands of criminals, and utilizing federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to bolster public safety measures such as hiring and retraining police officers and addressing case backlogs.

“I’m proud of the way my office and the Salt Lake City Police Department have responded to crime in our community. Our efforts are working,” said Mayor Mendenhall. “Salt Lake City is known for its high quality of life, and I am committed to making sure crime in our city is rooted out and that criminals know they have no place here.”

Overall crime in Salt Lake City is down 9 percent as of August 14 and violent crime is down almost 4 percent. This data shows violent crime in Salt Lake City is declining, and not mirroring upticks seen in many other major cities.

Successful strategies of Mayor Mendenhall’s Administration include: 

• Removal of 103 guns through City-sponsored gun buyback program in June. This annual effort removes guns from circulation and helps individuals safely dispose of unwanted weapons. 
• Boosting Police Department salaries in 2021 by 30 percent for entry-level officers and 12 percent for senior-level officers 
• Filling 46 vacancies in the police department since early 2021, with new recruitment classes scheduled to start in September 2022, January 2023, and May 2023. 
• Project Safe Neighborhoods (the City’s partnership with federal and state law enforcement) has resulted in 53 defendants charged in U.S. District Court, 35 separate illegal firearm possession cases, nearly 80 firearms seized, nearly 9 kilograms of meth seized and more than 2 kilograms of cocaine seized so far in 2022.
• Creating the 13-member Civilian Response Team in the Police Department to augment and enhance the police response service within the city. By diverting lower priority calls for service to non-sworn employees, sworn officers will be better able to focus on higher priority calls.
• Supported funding to expand the Police Department’s use of online reporting and call diversion.   

“Mayors have attended the funerals and heard the stories of families destroyed because the wrong person had access to a deadly firearm. And as mayors in blue, red and purple states, we know gun violence is a national epidemic that requires immediate, national action,” said Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond, VA and the President of the Democratic Mayors Association. “Mayors Stopping Crime: A Week of Action will showcase all the innovative ways Democratic Mayors across the country are fighting back to make their communities safer by being tough on crime and tough on the root causes of crime.”

Other participating mayors include Levar Stoney of Richmond, VA; Sylvester Turner of Houston, TX; Melvin Carter of St. Paul, MN; Justin Bibb of Cleveland, OH; Regina Romero of Tucson, AZ; Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, MO; Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, IL; Jack Bradley of Lorain, OH; Libby Schaaf of Oakland, CA; Jane Castor of Tampa, FL; Todd Gloria of San Diego, CA; Caroline Simmons of Stamford, CT; Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge, LA; Aftab Pureval of Cincinnati, OH; Steve Adler of Austin, TX; Satya Rhodes-Conway of Madison, WI; Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio, TX; Steven Reed of Montgomery, AL; Kate Gallego of Phoenix, AZ; Joyce Craig of Manchester, NH; John Ernst of Brookhaven, GA; Jeffrey Mims, Jr. of Dayton, OH; Kathy Sheehan of Albany, NY; Mary-Ann Baldwin of Raleigh, NC; and more.