Department of Public Safety

Overview - The Public Safety SECRET

The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) is a very complex and dynamic organization comprised of many different divisions; each having its own mission and responsibilities, and each providing critical public safety services. The Utah Department of Public Safety divisions include:

• Administrative Services
• Communications
• Criminal Identification
• Driver License
• Fire Marshal
• Forensic Services
• Highway Patrol
• Highway Safety
• Homeland Security — Emergency Management
• Homeland Security — Investigation
• Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST)

While the role of each DPS division is important to the public safety of Utah, combining the expertise of each division and working together toward a common public safety focus is the SECRET to providing a safe and secure environment for all people in Utah.

The Utah Department of Public Safety has identified the following six strategies as being vital to accomplishing its mission, and to providing a comprehensive approach to public safety:

1. S trengthen infrastructure;
2. E mergency preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation;
3. C riminal identification and interdiction;
4. R oadway safety;
5. E ducation and training;
6. T hriving workforce.

These six strategies provide the framework and focus not only for the goals we set and the services we provide at the Utah Department of Public Safety, but also for the outcome we are striving to achieve. Successful implementation of these strategies will result in many benefits for the people of Utah, and will help maintain their unparalleled quality of life.  

Strengthen Infrastructure

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

An important key to having a safe and secure Utah, is having a strong infrastructure. It is imperative that the facilities and systems serving a community are safe and secure so that growth and prosperity can occur without interruption.

Public schools are a critical component of Utah's infrastructure. The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) is committed to strengthening the safety of these facilities, and is working to ensure that all Utah public schools are protected from loss of life and property due to fire-related peril.

What we're doing about it:

• The State Fire Marshal's Office protects public schools from loss of life and property due to fire-related peril through prevention, inspection, education and resolution.

• Prevention: The Fire Prevention Bureau is responsible for performing plan reviews for new construction and fire code enforcement in over 12,000 public and private buildings. The Bureau also supervises and directs the School District Fire Marshal Program to help with fire safety in local schools.

• Inspection: The State Fire Marshal's Office conducts detailed inspections of public schools to check for compliance with fire safety codes and standards.

• Education: Through education and other cooperative efforts, the State Fire Marshal's Office strives to ensure at least 90% of public schools are in compliance with fire code upon initial inspection.

• Resolution: The State Fire Marshal's Office is committed to having 100% of all code violations, found during inspections, successfully resolved.

Emergency Preparedness: Response, Recovery and Mitigation

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

While no one ever wants to dial 9-1-1, emergency situations are a fact of life for the citizens of Utah. Currently, the Department of Public Safety Communications Bureau receives approximately 500,000 calls per year. In addition, Utah faces challenges associated with catastrophic events such as earthquakes, wild fires and floods.

To face the challenges posed by these emergency events, the Utah Department of Public Safety is committed to providing a comprehensive approach to emergency preparedness.

What we're doing about it:

• Be Ready Utah, and Ready Your Business, are programs facilitated by the Department of Public Safety Homeland Security Division, and are designed to better prepare Utah citizens and Utah businesses for emergency situations. These programs include awareness campaigns, educational activities and materials, as well as community events.
• Be Ready Utah awareness messages are delivered via live presentations, radio broadcasts, and news articles. Be Ready Utah is featured during the Utah State Fair, and other community events. Tens of thousands of pamphlets, fact sheets and planning tips are distributed to Utah citizens from all areas of the state. Be Ready Utah has many private sector partners, and is expanding to include partners in grocery, hardware and health.
• The Ready Your Business program continues to exceed federal program requirements and expectations for resources and training. Ready Your Business Conferences are held, with hundreds of public and private sector attendees and vendors. In August 2007, Ready Your Business partnered with the Utah Business Magazine, and was featured in a 16-page insert that was received by thousands of subscribers. The Ready Your Business program encourages, and helps businesses know how to: Have a Plan, Get a Kit, and Be Informed.

Criminal Identification and Interdiction

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

As Utah citizens, our quality of life is put at risk if we are made to be afraid. Attacks on persons and property take something away from all of us, and deny us the right to feel secure in our homes and community. The Utah Department of Public Safety if committed to protecting our quality of life through criminal identification and interdiction.

What we're doing about it:

• The State Bureau of Investigation has investigators stationed at section offices, on criminal task forces statewide, as well as working from their headquarters in Salt Lake City. They investigate a full range of crimes including: the illegal purchase, sale distribution or consumption of alcohol; drug trafficking organizations; mortgage fraud and other financial crimes; and other major violent felonies.
• The Utah Highway Patrol has troopers stationed around the state patrolling all state roads, conducting criminal interdiction projects on drug corridors throughout Utah, preventing crime, apprehending criminals, and assisting other public safety agencies.
• The Aero Bureau utilizes airplanes and helicopters to provide aerial photos of various criminal activities, to provide discrete surveillance and tracking of drug dealers, to pursue bank robbers, burglars and stolen cars, etc.
• The Fire Marshal's Office provides professional arson investigations statewide.
• The Statewide Information and Analysis Center (SIAC), operated by the State Bureau of Investigation, provides investigative case support and timely information (including strategic and tactical intelligence bulletins, and threat assessments) to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that directly impacts law enforcement's ability to identify criminals and prevent future criminal activity.
• The Bureau of Forensic Services offers a full-service accredited crime laboratory system, with locations around the state, to analyze crime scene evidence and provide expert testimony from highly trained forensic scientists in Utah's courts of law.
• The Bureau of Criminal Identification ensures that concealed firearm permits, private investigator licenses, bail enforcement licenses, and expungement certificates are issued to and retained only by qualified applicants.
• In conjunction with law enforcement, Amber Alert's are issued from the Bureau of Criminal Identification.

Roadway Safety: Motor Vehicle Crash Fatalities

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

On average, a motor vehicle crash occurs on Utah's roadways every 10 minutes, and someone is killed in a crash almost every day. This tragic loss of life is a challenge to all of us; a challenge to be better drivers, a challenge to build and maintain better roadways, and a challenge to build safer vehicles. The Department of Public Safety (DPS) takes this challenge seriously. Through education, enforcement and license regulation, DPS is striving to improve safety on Utah's roadways.

What we're doing about it:

• The Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) enforces all traffic laws including impaired driving, aggressive driving, speeding, drowsy driving and seat belt use. UHP, in conjunction with the Utah Department of Transportation, is participating in the Litter Hurts campaign to reduce debris-related incidents and crashes.
• UHP inspects school buses, commercial vehicles and drivers; placing buses and commercial vehicles out of service for equipment safety violations, and placing drivers out of service for hours of service or license violations.
• The Utah Highway Safety Office works in conjunction with other Department of Public Safety divisions, and various traffic safety partners, to promote safe driving practices through educational campaigns such as: Click It or Ticket; Drunk Driving: Over the Limit, Under Arrest; Share the Road; Ride Smart; Don't Drive Stupid; Sleep Smart, Drive Smart.
• The Driver License Division encourages motorcycle safety, and educates motorcycle riders through the Motorcycle Rider Education program.
• Properly licensing drivers helps keep dangerous drivers off the roadways. In addition to the standard driver testing and licensing procedures, the Driver License Division also performs requested driver review exams to determine if an individual should maintain a non-restricted driver license, have driving privileges restricted, or have driving privileges revoked.

Roadway Safety: Occupant Protection

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

Failure to "buckle up" contributes to more fatalities than any other traffic-safety-related-behavior. Every year in America, the majority of persons that die in motor vehicle crashes fail to wear their seatbelt. Even more tragic is the fact that a simple decision could have prevented this loss of life.

What we're doing about it:

• In Utah, we have a seatbelt law. We enforce it.

• Beyond regular enforcement, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) participates in an annual Click it or Ticket campaign. Through high visibility media and saturation enforcement components, this two-week mobilization encourages all motor vehicle occupants to buckle up.

• Seatbelt usage of young drivers is of particular concern, and through the "Adopt a High School" program, the Department of Public Safety places special emphasis on this age group to encourage good occupant restraint usage habits early in their driving career.

• Preventing the needless death of Utah's youngest citizens is also a top priority for the Department of Public Safety. DPS trains and certifies people as Child Passenger Safety Technicians. These technicians work on a voluntary basis in their communities statewide to offer proper child safety seat installation assistance and education to local residents.

Roadway Safety: Impaired Driving

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

Impaired driving is a major contributor to motor vehicle crash fatalities nationwide. Drunk drivers kill people, destroy property and ruin lives. We all pay in some way for the damage drunk and impaired drivers do. Health care costs, insurance costs, court costs, prison costs, and the cost of ruined and lost lives are all a direct result of drunk and impaired drivers. DUI crashes are a tragedy, and are preventable.

What we're doing about it:

• Utah is leading the way in eliminating DUI-related crash fatalities, and continues to have the lowest DUI-related crash rate in the nation. Even though these rates fluctuate from year to year, Utah shows a distinctive downward trend. That means that this problem is getting better, and that Utah's roads are safer.
• Utah was one of the first states to go to a per se 0.08 blood alcohol level and back that up with tough enforcement laws and massive education efforts. Remember, in Utah: " Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest."
• Utah has zero tolerance levels of alcohol for drivers under age 21, and metabolite laws that define illegal substances in your system while driving.
• Along with the DUI enforcement conducted in each of the Utah Highway Patrol field sections, the Utah Highway Patrol has a full-time DUI enforcement team that travels throughout the state arresting impaired drivers for alcohol, drugs, not a drop, alcohol restricted drivers, and interlock device violations.
• To regulate the legal sale of alcohol, the State Bureau of Investigation Alcohol Enforcement Team conducts Covert Underage Buyer Operations, and Covert and Overt Inspections of DABC-licensed establishments.

Education and Training

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) is committed to providing Utah with well-educated and expertly trained law enforcement officers that will serve Utah's communities with professionalism and integrity. Continuing education and training is critical to accomplishing this goal.

To ensure that education and training continues throughout their law enforcement career, all active peace officers and correction officers in Utah are required to complete 40 hours of annual in-service training in order to maintain certification.

What we're doing about it:

• The Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Division of DPS tracks the completion of the annual 40-hour inservice training requirement for all active law enforcement officers in Utah.

• During 2008, POST hosted and/or co-sponsored 60 in-service training classes. In all, POST provided in-service training for over 1,200 peace officers throughout the state.

• POST is implementing a statewide learning management system where officers can participate in synchronous or asynchronous training online and conduct recertification assessments.

• POST provides leadership training that includes first-line supervisor courses as well as executive-level courses.

• POST is implementing the usage of a Skills Manager software program to provide a centralized system of tracking certification, employment and training transcripts for each officer in the state of Utah.

Thriving Workforce

Data Source: DPS

Why this is important:

The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) realizes that the quality of services DPS provides to Utah citizens will be optimized if rendered in an optimistic work environment by highly qualified and motivated employees.

Maintaining a highly operational workforce signals that DPS is able to retain a high percentage of employees, and quickly fill vacancies that occur. Successfully retaining and recruiting employees is an indicator of an efficient and effective workforce.

The Utah Department of Public Safety's goal is to maintain a 98% operational workforce amongs all DPS divisions.

What we're doing about it:

• Identifying high-turnover areas within DPS, and making the issues associated with them a priority.

• Working with the legislature to obtain additional resources needed to lessen the increasing burden placed on public safety service demand.

• Providing opportunities for employees to participate in professional development, and to further their formal education.

• Recognizing employees for a job well done through peer, supervisor and department recognition programs.

• Ensuring workforce integrity by performing timely and thorough background checks on potential employees, as well as performing thorough investigations into allegations of employee misconduct.

• Providing employees with efficient and accurate administrative support services.