Former Head of Utah DOC to Lead Salt Lake City Police

The Salt Lake City Council voted unanimously late Tuesday to approve Brian Redd, former head of the Utah Department of Corrections, as the replacement for longtime Police Chief Mike Brown, who stepped down on Friday at Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s behest.

The vote followed a week of private discussions with Redd, also a former top official with the state Department of Public Safety and one-time Utah Highway Patrol trooper, whom the mayor had nominated amid pressure to improve public safety, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

The mayor has portrayed Redd’s hire as part of a turning point for the city while she presses a new plan enacted in mid-January to more effectively combat homeless encampments and drug trafficking on downtown streets, along the Jordan River and in the Ballpark neighborhood.

Brown, a 33-year veteran of the Salt Lake City Police Department with nearly a decade as chief, will remain under city employment while placed on administrative leave until Aug. 29, public records show. He will be paid his normal pay rate until his final day. He will then receive $205,000 in severance, according to his separation contract with the city.

Mendenhall has made clear she sought the change in leadership, saying the Police Department needed to take a more collaborative approach with other law enforcement agencies.