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New Activities, Law Enforcement Poised to Fight Crime in Pioneer Park

Whittney Evans

The Salt Lake City Police Department began putting extra attention on Pioneer Park this month with the creation of a special bureau. Law Enforcement officials say that effort combined with new family-friendly activities will make the park and the neighborhood safer.

If you’ve spent any time around Pioneer Park lately, whether it be for the downtown farmer’s market or the Twilight Concert Series, you may have noticed some athletic, enthusiastic people flying high above you.

Utah Flying Trapeze began offering daily classes in June to anyone who’s daring enough to try. Kristen Ulmer is one of the founders of the school. She says her desire to support the downtown community and her love of flying brought the school to fruition.

“I find that fear is the whole point of this,” Ulmer says. “It’s like, that’s what makes it so fun. So even if you’re afraid of heights, totally encourage you to come down here, it will probably fix that fear of heights that you have.”

Rich Brady is a Lieutenant with Salt Lake City’s new Metro Support Bureau. Earlier this month the department shifted 75 of its officers to the bureau in hopes of cracking down on the crime-riddled Pioneer Park neighborhood. Brady says Pioneer Park has historically attracted criminals from all parts of the state. But the constant police presence and exciting new activities like flying trapeze are sending a message to drug dealers, thieves and other would-be criminals. 

“That knowledge that people have that they can come here and participate in that sort of activity, we believe that it is now filtering outward with this effort,” Brady says. “We tell them what’s going on here. We really want that word to get out. No secret.”

Brady says Metro Support Bureau officers are patrolling the park 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Whittney Evans grew up southern Ohio and has worked in public radio since 2005. She has a communications degree from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, where she learned the ropes of reporting, producing and hosting. Whittney moved to Utah in 2009 where she became a reporter, producer and morning host at KCPW. Her reporting ranges from the hyper-local issues affecting Salt Lake City residents, to state-wide issues of national interest. Outside of work, she enjoys playing the guitar and getting to know the breathtaking landscape of the Mountain West.
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