SALT LAKE CITY — Leaders of Utah's capital city have compiled 50 recommendations for the state and the city after state officials called out policing "ineffectiveness" in a letter to the city last month.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall released the city's official response to that letter on Thursday — a 49-page report and plan highlighting criminal justice and homelessness reforms the city would like to see as the state prepares to address the issue during the upcoming legislative session.

"The system, as it exists today, is really not designed to create accountability or remedy the services for this population, so we see a cycling of people with many arrests," Mendenhall told the KSL and Deseret News editorial boards on Wednesday before releasing the report. "It's not one part of the system's fault. It is a system as a whole that has to be changed."

The document leads with four "guiding principles," such as a call for better resource service access, while people will be held accountable for criminal actions and public spaces will be "safe, clean and welcoming to all law-abiding people."

It then outlines dozens of ways to solve those challenges, starting with steps that can be taken now, such as implementing more officers from bike and foot patrol downtown and other areas like the Ballpark neighborhood and areas along the Jordan River. A special team that will focus on drug and gun issues in the city will also be created.

The city is also offering an undisclosed city-owned property to serve as a temporary emergency center for up to two years if the state or private partners can provide the funds to help the city operate services, among other actions it is proposing.

However, it's also seeking bigger actions that require more time and assistance.

Rachel Otto, Mendenhall's chief of staff, explained that crime and homelessness aren't always related, but the goal of the plan is to create better communication between homeless services and criminal justice systems when the two become intertwined.

For example, jail might be the best course of action in cases involving a person experiencing homelessness committing a crime, but that wouldn't resolve statewide homeless challenges, and the person would still be unhoused once released.

Mental health challenges, drug addiction and human trafficking are a few examples of when experts find the issues intersect, Mendenhall said. She believes all levels of government have yet to sufficiently fund or handle these issues, instead passing costs and burdens onto residents and businesses.

"I'm so fed up with the brokenness of this system, and our officers are so fed up with taking people to jail or not being able to take them to services because they're not available — having people right back on the streets," she said.

Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday morning that he had not yet seen the full plan but received a one-page report during a meeting he had with Mendenhall and other state leaders this week. He said the meeting went "very well" and he's looking forward to reading the full report.

An invitation to collaborate

City officials spent the past month compiling the report after Cox and other state leaders called on the city to address policing and criminal justice "inadequacies." State officials wrote about "escalating public safety challenges" in Salt Lake City from residents and business leaders daily, asking Mendenhall to present a public safety plan by Friday to address the "ineffectiveness" of the city's police department.

Related:

Salt Lake City anticipates changes after Utah leaders call out policing 'inadequacies'

Salt Lake leaders say they're willing to work with the state on solutions to crime and homelessness after Utah leaders called on the city to address policing "inadequacies."

Mendenhall said while she might have felt differently a few years ago, she views it as an opportunity for a collaborative policy process that can produce a better outcome than the state "trying to create legislation to address an issue" alone. She added that the new plan will be more "actionable" than a previous agreement state, county and city leaders made to work together on issues.

Cox said that was also the intent of the letter.

"This is more collaboration than anything else," he said. "What we want is a plan that we can work on all together, and she wants that as well."

The report was compiled after "deep dives" with the Utah Office of Homeless Services, Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office and other entities, as well as interviews with dozens of people with knowledge of the issues or past experiences, per the city. Feedback from city employees who often deal with issues was also collected.

Carrying out the plan

Twenty-seven of the proposed actions outlined in the plan are internal goals, such as increased patrols and homeless shelter space. There are also plans to increase prosecution penalties for repeat offenders and for better data tracking to identify repeat offenders.

"The Salt Lake City Police Department remains fully committed to its duty of enforcing the law, holding offenders accountable, and practicing community-oriented policing. This plan reaffirms that commitment and expectation," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown, in a statement Thursday.

The city also plans to update its ordinances to crack down on certain camping practices, including banning RV camping on city streets.

The remaining 23 possible actions fall outside of the city's jurisdiction, which is why the city is calling on legislative assistance. Other proposed actions include more mental health services, as well as more "deeply affordable" housing funds to address rising costs before residents fall into homelessness.

Mendenhall said the city will launch some sort of "data-tracking mechanism" that will be available for review for any needed adjustments if certain goals in the city's plan aren't successful. Residents are now able to report nonemergency issues and submit feedback through the mySLC app, which the city launched this week.

"We take full accountability and responsibility for implementing these (and) making them successful," she said, later adding that she believes that efforts will fail if state policies only pick and choose certain issues rather than repair the full system, and if efforts are only made in select parts of the state.

The state plans to work together on executing a plan once one is finalized, Cox said Thursday.

It comes as Salt Lake County has already requested more jail, behavioral health treatment and substance use treatment beds as it seeks solutions to the issues. It sought a $507 million bond that would have funded some of those items, but the bond failed to succeed on November's ballot.

Mendenhall said the city plans to put $5 million toward the private market to assist affordable housing efforts. She also called on more funding to help the Other Side Village with its expansion plans after it opened earlier this month. She added she's "hopeful" that state leaders will collaborate on efforts to handle the issues when the 2025 legislative session begins next week.

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