Where does the money go?

In 2017, the United States spent $115 billion on police expenditures and $79 billion on
corrections (“Police and Corrections Expenditures” 2020). Locally, according to the Salt
Lake City 2019-2020 budget report, $82, 235, 729 was spent on police expenditures
("Capital and Operating Budget" 2020). Given the large sums of money invested into
police budgets, the question that arises is- Where does the money go?

Police Budgets Broken Down

Recruitment Operating Equipment Administrative

and Training Costs Costs

Recruitment
and Training
Individuals can put themselves through police
academy, as seen with the Salt Lake City
Community Police Academy, but often police
departments will sponsor their own academy,
as is seen in the image. The average cost
sponsoring oneself academy is approximately
$6700 (“Law Enforcement Academy" 2020).
Police Academy is broken down into two
sections- Special Function Officer (SFO) and
Law Enforcement Officer (LEO). The cost for
departments to sponsor cadets is
substantially more, as they pay the cadets
while they are attending the academy. If the
department runs their own academy, they
must provide their own training equipment
and instructors, both of which can cost a
considerable amount of money. Image 1. "Salt Lake Community College Police Academy." 2020.

Upon completion of the police academy,

recruits become certified police officers, but
still, need to complete a field training program.
These training programs, which differ from the
SFO and LEO training, are run by the individual
police department. First, each rookie
completes a probationary period with a field
training officer. Following the completion of
the probationary period, police officers can
receive further training in a specialized area,
such as narcotics, bike patrol, investigations,
traffic control, and many other specialized
pieces of training. All of this training comes
with a substantial price tag. Training costs can
exceed $100,000 and take up to eighteen
months (Meade). Furthermore, it is estimated
to take about three to five years of service for
a law enforcement agency to recoup this initial
Image 2. "Police Training in Progress." 2020.
cost (Meade).

In addition to the high costs in recruiting and training police officers, police departments are struggling to keep officers;
as such, they fail to recoup the value of the initial training and have to find other recruits. In 2017, Maj. Scott Stephenson,
the Director of Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST), stated that the number of officers was down nearly
seven hundred due to officers quitting and difficulties in recruiting new officers (Caldwell 2018). Furthermore, officers
are leaving to work for out of state agencies as they provide better pensions and pay.

Operating Costs
The Salt Lake City Public Safety Building, built-in
2012, houses approximately 276 police
employees, 69 dispatchers, 38 fire employees, and
four emergency management division (Stecklein
2013). The initial cost for this building came in at
$125 Million (Stecklein 2013), though police
expenditures were not responsible for initial
payment; instead, city bonds. The operating cost
comes in the form of upkeep and building
maintenance. It cost SLCPD approximately
$1,638,,083 for operations and maintenance in
2019-2020 ("Capital and Operating Budget" 2020).
In addition to the public safety building, Salt Lake
City Police has two other precincts, a crime lab, an
evidence warehouse, and multiple specialized
offices (such as the joint FBI cyber investigations
building). Image 3. "Salt Lake City Public Safety Building" 2020
 Where does the money go?
Police Budgets Broken Down

Operating Costs
The fleet of vehicles owned by Salt Lake City Police
Department (SCLPD) includes Chevrolet Impala
sedans, Ford Explorer SUVs, and Hybrid patrol cars.
Each comes with an initial price tag and continuous
maintenance and fuel costs. The Ford Explorer
SUVs cost SLCPD $41, 897, and the Hybrid Patrol
cars cost the department $37,897 (Berg 2019).
Purchasing the hybrids was cheaper, and the
department saved around $250,000 a year in more
affordable fuel costs and maintenance (Berg 2019).
The cost of fueling a fleet of police vehicles is
exponential and takes up a big chunk of the
departments operating costs.

Image 4. "A marked vehicle used by the Salt Lake City Police
Department in Utah." An Errant Knight. August 14, 2015.

In 2012, the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD)

expanded its homeless outreach program and began
coordinating with the Homeless Outreach Service Team
(HOST). HOST is a “proactive and collaborative effort to
move the community in Salt Lake City, into a partnership
with the police and homeless service providers to
connect homeless individuals with social services and
resources” (“Turn Spare Change Into Actual Change”).
Additionally, SLCPD works with The Road Home, a
private non-profit social services agency that works with
those experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake County.
Included in the 2019-2020 operations budget for SLCPD,
which totaled $49, 644,729, were expenditures allocated
to assist with the homeless outreach program, and is
estimated to be a couple of million dollars (“Capital and
Operating Budget” 2020). Additionally, on June 16, 2020,
Salt Lake City moved $2.5 million for social workers out
of the police budget (Larson 2020). Image 5. " Homeless man in New York." JMSuarez.
December 13, 2008.

Include information on the cost

of guns and sweat gear
In addition to having police officers who patrol and
maintain the peace, departments have investigators
and forensic experts. The pay for investigators and
forensic experts is much higher than a typical police
officer; as such, warrants more allocation of funding.
The median salary for an officer in Utah is $53,640
(“Police Patrol Officer Salary in Salt Lake City”),
while an investigator makes around $69, 120 (“Police
Detective Salary”). The average pay for a forensic
expert ranges from $50,287 – $129,517 (“Forensic
Expert Salary”). In addition to increased salaries, due
to greater responsibilities and abilities, SLCPD has
its forensic lab. Other than the State Forensic
Laboratory, it is the largest in Utah.

Image 6. "Salt Lake City Police Crime Lab Internship."

July 9, 2020.

Equipment
The typical patrol officer carries with them on a daily
base body armor, body camera, utility belt, pistol,
ammo, handcuffs, and a taser. At Salt Lake City
Police Department (SLCPD), a patrol officer pistol is
either a Glock 17 ($599) or the Smith and Wesson M
& P 2.0 ($549). The typical body armor worn by
officers is a level 3 plus vest, which averages around
five hundred to six hundred dollars. Handcuffs are
cheaper and only cost around twenty dollars. SLCPD
uses the Body Camera Taser AXONFlex, which costs
$3,368 but includes a 5-year full replacement
warranty, data storage, data storage, and
maintenance (slcpd.com). SLCPD uses Axon X2
Taser, which costs $1,103 (slcpd.com). Excluding
the body camera, it costs, on average, around $3,300 Image 7. “Body Armor with Pistol-Typical Police Equipment.” July 9,
to equip a police officer. 2020.
 Where does the money go?
Police Budgets Broken Down

Equipment
A common misconception surrounding police acquiring
tactical military equipment is the cost associated with
it. Through the National Defense Authorization Act of
1997, the Department of Defense’s Law Enforcement
Support Officer (LESO) has given more than $5.4 Billion
in surplus gear (Harris 2017). Police departments,
including the Salt Lake City Police, can voluntarily apply
to receive clothing, optics, guns, tools, grenade
launchers, armored personnel carriers (APC), and mine-
resistant through the 1033 program (Harris 2017). The
police departments pay for nothing other than the
transportation costs; as such, departments can get
APCs and tactical military guns at virtually no cost. The
cost associated with military gear owned by police
agencies is in the form of upkeep and training officers
on how to use the equipment.
Image 8. "Police APC." Verifex. July 27, 2008.

Administrative Costs
A portion of police department expenditures is for
legal fees. Whenever an officer or police employee
messes up, a lawsuit is bound to arise. A recent and
ongoing civil lawsuit, as of July 2020, is from Thaer
Mahdi. In April 2019, a driver, Harold Vincent
Robinson, rammed his vehicle into Mahdi’s shop
during a police car chase in Salt Lake City. Police
from multiple agencies, including SLCPD, shoot
Harold Robinson and his truck with hundreds of
rounds of ammunition, which subsequently hit
Mahdi’s shop. Currently, Thaer Mahdi is suing
SLCPD for over 3 million dollars (Romboy 2020).
Even if SLCPD isn’t found liable for civil damages,
they still need to pay legal fees, which are not
cheap.
Image 9. "Matheson Court House." July 9, 2020.

An internal affairs department is vital in

developing policies and procedures while also
investigating and correcting any behavior. Most
large departments have an internal affairs
department, as does SLCPD. SLCPD’s internal
affairs consist of a civilian review board and a
separate investigations unit. Following an initial
complaint, an investigation follows, which can be
time-consuming and costly at times due to the
internal complexity of the situation (Kelly 2003).
Upon completion of an inquiry, it is up to the
District Attorney to determine whether it meets
grounds for criminal charges, and it is up to the
police chief to determine whether action within
the department is needed.

Image 10. "Forensic Camera Gear." July 9, 2020.

 Works Cited
Berg, Alison. “Utah cops are moving to hybrids with big batteries and the ability to reach 137 mph.” The Salt Lake Tribune. August 6, 2019.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/08/06/salt-lake-county-police/. Accessed July 7, 2020.

Caldwell, Tiffany. “As fewer people want to become police officers, Utah law enforcement agencies compete for experienced officers.”
The Salt Lake Tribune. February 26, 2018. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/02/24/as-fewer-people-want-to-work-as-police-utah-law-
enforcement-agencies-compete-for-experienced-officers/. Accessed July 5, 2020.

Capital and Operating Budget. Salt Lake City. 2020. PDF file.

Harris, Matthew C., et al. “Peacekeeping Force: Effects of Providing Tactical Equipment to Local Law Enforcement.” American Economic
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Kelly, Sean F. “Internal Affairs.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, vol. 72, no. 7, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
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Meade, Brett. “Recruiting, Selecting, and Retaining Law Enforcement Officers.” National Police Foundation.
https://www.policefoundation.org/recruiting-selecting-and-retaining-law-enforcement-officers/. Accessed July 5, 2020.

Image 1. Grace, Cade. “Salt Lake City Community College.” Photograph. July 9, 2020.

Image 2. Grace, Cade. “Police Training in Progress.” Photograph. July 9, 2020.

Image 3. Grace, Cade. “Salt Lake City Public Safety Building.” Photograph. July 9, 2020.

Image 4. An Errant Knight. “A marked vehicle used by the Salt Lake City Police Department in Utah.” August 14, 2015.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salt_Lake_City_Police_vehicle,_Utah,_Aug_2015.jpg

Image 5. JMSuarez. “Homeless man in New York 2008.” December 13, 2008.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homeless_New_York_2008.jpeg.

Image 6. Grace, Cade. “Salt Lake City Police Crime Lab Internship.” Photograph. July 9, 2020.

Image 7. Grace, Cade. “Body Armor with Pistol-Typical Police Equipment.” Photograph. July 9, 2020.

Image 8. Verifex. “Police APC.” July 27, 2008. https://www.flickr.com/photos/verifex/2980871455.

Image 9. Grace, Cade. “Matheson Court House.” Photograph. July 9, 2020.

Image 10. Grace, Cade. “Forensic Camera Gear.” Photograph. July 9, 2020.

Larsen, Leia. “Salt Lake City Council approves police budget which includes modest cut.” The Salt Lake Tribune. June 17 2020.
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city-ut. Accessed July 5, 2020.

“Turn Spare Change into Real Change.” HOST. https://www.slchost.org/. Accessed July 6, 2020.

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Stecklein, Janelle. “New Public Safety Building is not your typical cop shop.” The Salt Lake Tribune. July 8, 2013.
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