(Photo: Salt Lake County)
SOUTH SALT LAKE – Three different police agencies are short-staffed after 15 officers were put on paid administrative leave because of yesterday’s officer involved shooting in South Salt Lake. One police agency is feeling the impact especially badly.
Out of the 15 officers, two work for the Unified Police Department, three work for the Utah Highway Patrol and ten work for Salt Lake City. Police Chief Mike Brown says this is causing a serious strain on their department.
Brown says, “We had to hold some people over yesterday. We had to call some people back on overtime. We’ve had to rearrange some of the schedules. It’s difficult. Ten officers. That’s a big impact.”
The department already had several officers on paid administrative leave for other incidents that are still being investigated.
“Total, we have 17 officers on admin leave,” Brown adds.
Both Brown and Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera say they can’t remember any active shooter scenario like this, where the accused gunman was able to be as mobile as Harold Robinson reportedly was. Rivera says as unique as this case may be, one thing remains constant.
“When there’s a threat, that’s what we’re training on. You have to take the threat out,” Rivera says.
Rivera says officers don’t really train for this kind of scenario.
“After this investigation is completed, we will be able to identify areas that we either need to train more on, or we need to improve on,” she says.