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South Valley Riverton Journal

New Herriman Police Department sworn in

Oct 22, 2018 03:44PM ● By Jana Klopsch

Officers of the new Herriman Police Department raise their hands as they are sworn in. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

By Justin Adams | [email protected]

Police work as we know it today arguably started in England, when the Metropolitan Police Force in London was created. It made law enforcement more organized, consistent and accountable to the public. That organization was born on September 29, 1829. On that same day, 189 years later, the Herriman Police Department was born.

That connection was noted by new police chief Troy Carr during the new department’s swearing-in ceremony at Copper Mountain Middle School.

Just five months earlier, the Herriman City Council voted unanimously to end its affiliation with the Unified Police Department and form its own police department. City council members were concerned about “a lack of transparency and unresponsiveness with UPD, overpaying for minimal officer presence and a desire to better control its law enforcement distribution as reasons for the withdrawal,” the South Valley Journal reported at the time.

Since that time, it has been an enormous undertaking to create an entirely new police department, said Councilman Jared Henderson during the swearing-in ceremony. 

“Everyone who has been a part of this has taken time off from what they normally do,” Henderson said. 

It has been a Herculean task.”

In June, Troy Carr was selected to be the department’s very first chief. Carr had previously served as the Herriman precinct chief for UPD. Chad Reyes was also chosen to be the deputy chief, and Cody Stromberg and Brian Weidmer were chosen to be the department’s first lieutenants.

Judge Paul Farr of the 3rd District Court, swore in 31 additional officers as well as five support staff members and two K9s. 

“Yours will sometimes be a thankless job,” Farr told the officers prior the swearing-in. “None of you took this job to get rich. Sometimes the actions you will take will be unpopular or criticized by others. Much of the good that you do will go unseen.”

Mayor David Watts credited the officers of the new department and their families for the rapid assembly of a brand new department.

“As a council, we do not feel we deserve the credit for what has been created,” he said. “We believe that the men and women here and their families have done in four months what would normally have taken a year.”

Henderson also spoke about the long hours of hard work that was required to form the new department, but also said the city’s job was far from finished. 

“This is not our destination,” he said. “Our destination is always on the horizon. It’s more of an ideal.”