Investigations Division
Tenacity and Attention to Detail
The Investigations Division comprises a host of functions and investigations assets that serve the citizens of Salt Lake County. Many of the division functions serve the entire County, while others are limited to the unincorporated areas and/or contract cities. Read ahead and learn about one of the most exciting and engaged law enforcement entities in the State.
Crimes Against Persons
Crimes Against Persons entails all aspects of violent felonies including child abuse and molestation, murder, aggravated assault, rape, stalking, and domestic violence.
Violent Crimes Unit (VCU)
The Violent Crimes Unit is comprised of seven detectives and a sergeant. One of these detectives is assigned exclusively to work cold case homicides. They are tasked with investigating violent crimes against persons which include homicides, kidnappings, robberies, and sexual assaults. Additionally, these detectives investigate all suicides, in-custody deaths, unexpected deaths, and officer involved shootings.
Instituting cold case homicide investigation in 2005 has proven extremely successful. Five cold cases have been solved, and four are currently under active investigation.
Also, this unit contains the Major Accident Team (MAT). This team has enormous technical capabilities and skills to reconstruct serious accident scenes, as well as crime scenes. Its members work many long hours with numerous callouts, and lengthy investigations requiring hours of follow up.
Family Crimes Unit (FCU)
The Family Crimes Unit investigates child abuse, sex abuse, and domestic violence cases. The unit investigates more than 1,000 cases of abuse that occurred in families, with complaints filed in 384 of those.
Victim Advocates are remarkable public servants and make more than 3,000 contacts per year, helping many victims work through the legal system and restart their lives after often tragic exposure to violence and abuse. They are a great resource for the Sheriffs Office and the community we serve.
We have increased our investigative efforts in the computer and Internet related crimes against children to meet the exploding increase in the numbers of these crimes. To facilitate this, the squad formed a strong working relationship with the Utah State Computer Forensic Lab and assigned a crime scene technician to that effort in 2005. This team approach has resulted in multiple arrests, charging numerous offenders with felonies. There remain a substantial number of cases under investigation each of which has a strong probability of arrest.
Missing/Runaway Persons continually show an impressive performance. They investigated 1300 cases per year with better than a 95 percent clearance rate. This unit includes one full-time and one part-time investigator, and is backed by both FCU and VCU. In addition, this unit handles numerous custodial interference cases.
Crime Scene Unit (CSU)
The Crime Scene Unit consists of eight crime scene technicians, one fingerprint technician and a sergeant. One of the crime scene technicians serves on a newly formed Intermountain Regional Computer Forensic Lab in a full time capacity.
These professional crime fighters respond to more than 3,000 crime scenes per year. They document evidence and scenes using a digital 35MM camera, and video photography. They also process more than 200 crime scenes looking for many different kinds of evidence. For example, when they find and process latent fingerprints, they often enter them into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). This sometimes results in the identification of suspects and thereby helps solve cases. CSU personnel also fingerprint about 3,000 people per year for a variety of purposes. The unit also classifies and files more than 30,000 Salt Lake County Adult Detention Center inmate fingerprint cards into our hard card database.
This unit regularly assists many outside agencies with their requests for assistance ranging from copies of fingerprint cards and processing crime scenes to comparisons of latent prints on checks, pawn cards or recovered from pieces of evidence and crime scenes.
CSU also conducts laboratory testing for identification of suspected marijuana, and deliver phlebotomy services by making blood draws of suspected impaired drivers. Future plans include a civilian supervisor for the unit, and more laboratory capabilities in areas like serology.
Homeland Security
The Homeland Security Unit (HSU), formed in 2005, brings together processes and investigators related to the homeland security mission. Homeland security is directed by a lieutenant, who is directly responsible for interfacing with other county, state, and federal organizations, and for planning, training, and policy related to this important mission. The lieutenant supervises covert investigations, intelligence efforts, a narcotics unit, a warrants unit, and oversight of the Joint Criminal Apprehension Team. He also is responsible for deputies assigned to task forces.
Current accomplishments include: Institution of new homeland/intelligence NCIC Codes for homeland security issues, with direct coordination and implementation with Salt Lake City Police Department; re-established Directed Patrol Lists and identification of critical infrastructure; management of homeland security grants; state EMS Grant/ JAG - Bryne Grant; the creation of emergency preparedness brochures; update and management of the County Homeland Website/email; participation in SLCO Homeland Security Workgroup / First Responder Work Group/ Local Emergency Planners Committee / State Region II Planning Committee.
Task Forces
The Sheriff’s Office participates in several task forces including the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), DEA Narcotics Task Force, and the Joint Criminal Apprehension Team (JCAT). Investigative responsibilities and cases with JTTF are increasing. Future plans include expansion of task force participation.
Warrant and Fugitive Unit
The Warrant and Fugitive Unit is comprised of three detectives from the Sheriffs Office. All three detectives have distinctive assignments within that unit. One detective is responsible for screening all criminal cases brought forward by the entire Sheriffs Office. One detective is solely responsible for the fugitive transportation and extradition to and from Utah. The third investigator hunts down wanted fugitives and serves on the Joint Criminal Apprehension Team.
The Joint Criminal Apprehension Team (JCAT) performs an extraordinary service in pursuing fugitives across the valley and state. This multi- jurisdictional unit works under the guiding hand of the United States Marshals Service using office space provided in the Investigations Division at the Sheriffs Office. Investigators from West Jordan Police Department, Adult Probation and Parole, Immigration, and the United States Marshal’s Office pool resources with the Sheriffs Office to arrest more than 500 violent fugitives per year.
JCAT detectives arrest close to 15,000 fugitives per year. The Salt Lake County model for JCAT has now expanded to other areas of the state to include Davis, Weber and Morgan Counties as well as Washington County.
Intelligence and Technical Services Detective
This detective oversees intelligence efforts for the Sheriff’s Office, and works part time on JCAT. He also oversees supervision of the many pawn shops, to ensure they are properly submitting their pawn cards electronically into the appropriate database.
The detective also provides support to criminal investigations with surveillance technologies, including vehicle trackers, property tracker, wires, and high tech video such as infrared and night vision.
Neighborhood Narcotics Unit
The Neighborhood Narcotics Unit is designed to aggressively combat street level drug dealers and to concentrate on drug dealers and suppliers that directly impact Salt Lake County residential neighborhoods.
The unit receives more than 2000 cases per year, makes more than 500 arrests, serves more than 50 search warrants and seizes sizable amounts of drugs, cash, and property. This unit’s aggressive approach to drug enforcement attacks the main nexus of most crime in the valley.
Jail Investigations
The Jail Investigations Unit (JIU) is staffed by a deputy sergeant who works closely with the Corrections Bureau, and a corrections officer who works part time. The responsibilities of the unit include the investigation of criminal events which occur within the Salt Lake County Jail and the court buildings where the Sheriff’s Office provides security. Additionally, the JIU acts as a liaison between outside law enforcement agencies and the jail and gathers intelligence related to criminal cases through the monitoring of prisoner mail and communications.
The JIU reviews more than 700 potential criminal episodes, and files numerous felony informations and 20 misdemeanors, with 6 of the felony cases adjudicated through the federal system and the remainder through the local courts. Typically, charges screened include aggravated assault by a prisoner, assault on a correctional officer, narcotics smuggling, escape, and damaging a jail.
Historically, the unit has been instrumental in gathering intelligence for the investigating agency of several high profile murder cases, most notably the Lori Hacking case. Agencies requesting the monitoring of telephone calls and mail include all of the departments within the Salt Lake Valley, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and several out of state departments and agencies.
Salt Lake Area Gang Project
(Metro Gang Unit)
The Gang Project is a multi-jurisdictional task force staffed by 24 investigators from 18 local, state and federal jurisdictions. Since 1999, the Sheriff’s Office has been the lead agency in the Gang Project contributing a Lieutenant, two sergeants, four investigators, an analyst, office coordinator and community coordinator. The Project works out of the Sheriff’s Office Administration Building under the operational command of the Sheriff’s Investigations Division.
The mission of the project is to deter, suppress and eliminate criminal gang activity and gang involvement in Salt Lake County. To accomplish its mission, the project employs several different methods of operation. These include the collection and analysis of gang intelligence, providing and facilitating education and counseling resources to the public and law enforcement, and the investigation and prosecution of gang related crime. The project also teams up with the University of Utah Medical Center to provide tattoo removal to those who desire to put gang-life behind them and contribute to their communities.
In 2002, the Gang Project initiated its Public Enemy #1 program which features a profile of the most wanted gang members and criminals on television. Since its inception the program has featured close to 100 wanted persons with a 95% arrest rate. The program is a strategy to involve the media and the public in the apprehension of dangerous gang members which has been effective and well received.
Each year, gang detectives assist at special events where gang members congregate, including concerts, the State Fair, and activities connected with July 4th and 24th celebrations.
The Project hosts an annual gang conference that brings professionals from all over the western United States. More than 1100 people attend the conference and are treated to a wide array of training classes and professional development.
The Gang Project also hosts a Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP). This program teams Project Detectives up with various different constituencies within our communities and the criminal justice system (including other police officers). As a team the program selects and monitors the behavior of at-risk youth. This is done through communication between partners, increased supervision and frequent visits to participant’s homes and neighborhoods to ensure compliance with court orders. Many of the identified Serious Habitual Offenders in our county are known or suspected gang members.
Wrap Up
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Investigation Division serves valley cities in a variety of ways. Detectives assigned to the division are the best of the best, and consistently succeed in spite of high case loads, limited resources, and many long hours away from their families and loved ones. Every member of the Investigations Division lives up to the division motto, “Tenacity and Attention to Detail.” Citizens can have confidence that when tragedy and crime strike them, Investigations Division professionals are ready to serve them.
Potter Bio:
Captain James Potter has served through the ranks in a variety of assignments including patrol, public information, administration, SWAT and special operations. He holds a B.S. in Criminal justice from Brigham Young University, an M.S. in Communication from the University of Utah, and graduated in1997 from the FBI National Academy. He is a retired Army officer with 12 years of active duty and 8 years as a reservist, and served in both military police and public affairs assignments. He previously commanded the Support Services Division, and now serves as the commander of the Investigations Division. He also teaches Criminal Justice and Communication at a local college.