- A Utah audit found Salt Lake City’s police morale at a record low before changes were made.
- The report states that poor leadership from the past police chief led to inefficiencies and issues.
- The city’s mayor and new chief say they are implementing more changes to improve the department.
SALT LAKE CITY — Morale within the Salt Lake City Police Department reached the lowest levels state auditors say they’ve ever seen before swift changes were made this year.
The poor morale stemmed from multiple “poor leadership” practices under the city’s former police chief, Mike Brown, which led to several “department inefficiencies,” the Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General wrote in a scathing 48-page report released Tuesday.
Brown, who abruptly retired in February, rose through the department’s ranks before he was named police chief in 2015. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall later said she asked him to retire amid mounting pressure from state leaders, who called out the police department’s “inadequacies.”…