South Salt Lake police receiving more calls than expected from new homeless shelter

South Salt Lake police homeless resource officer Chad Leetham pets Ceecee as he chats with Ricky Lopez outside of the new men’s resource center in South Salt Lake on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

SOUTH SALT LAKE — South Salt Lake police say they are receiving more calls from the new homeless resource center and the nearby area than they expected.

There were 188 service calls in December to the shelter at 3380 S. 1000 West and the surrounding one-tenth of a mile, South Salt Lake Police Chief Jack Carruth told KSL Newsradio.

That represents a 9,300% increase from December 2018, when only two calls were recorded in the area.

It “was forecasted early on that (the shelter) would have an impact in that area,” Carruth said. “But it’s a lot more than we anticipated.”

Many of the calls are from the shelter itself, Carruth said. While the police chief didn’t have specific numbers on hand, he said the calls have included reports of drugs found on people arriving at the shelter, theft, assault and intoxication. Every person who wishes to enter the shelter is searched for drugs, paraphernalia and weapons.

Reported thefts have also gone up in the surrounding area and the city as a whole, Carruth said, including several reports of burglarized homes.

“It’s definitely had an impact” on the community, he said.

The city is “very much managing” the increase in calls with the help of 12 new state-funded officers, six of whom are assigned to the facility and six patrolling the surrounding area, Carruth said.

“The question is, how long will the state provide (the funding)?” he said. “If that funding goes away ... do we have the ability or the tax base or infrastructure to absorb those officers?”

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

South Salt Lake police homeless resource officer Chad Leetham walks back to his car outside of the new men’s resource center in South Salt Lake on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020.

Since the 300-bed shelter opened in November, there have also been multiple pedestrian-car crashes nearby — leaving three men dead, all of whom were believed to be homeless. The crashes have led officials with the Utah Department of Transportation and South Salt Lake to take steps to improve pedestrian safety in the area.

When announced, the prospect of a new homeless resource center in South Salt Lake was met with pushback from some concerned residents.

Today, “there’s still concern and it’s warranted,” Carruth said. “But there’s also a lot of support from the community to assist or give those individuals the resources they need.”

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

South Salt Lake police homeless resource officer Chad Leetham talks to Ernie Higgs as Higgs works on his truck outside of the new men’s resource center in South Salt Lake on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020.

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