Nestled at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains between Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood Canyons, Cottonwood Heights covers about nine square miles with a population of approximately 35,000 people. The city is the gateway to major ski resorts and recreational canyons, as well as offering an easy access to the valley's transportation system. When the City of Cottonwood Heights incorporated in 2005
, a contract was entered into with the Salt Lake County sheriff to continue as the main provider of police protection. This changed in 2007 when Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore and the city council opted to form their own locally-controlled police department and terminated the contract with the county sheriff. This service ended on September 1, 2008 and the Cottonwood Heights Police Department was born. The CHPD has entered into partnerships with other municipalities to achieve an economy of scale and to provide an appropriate response to any potential emergency. This is accomplished by integrating members from CHPD into the Sandy Police Department SWAT Team. We believe that partnerships and mutual aid agreements provide local control and still accomplish the goal of providing quality pooled services to keep the citizens safe, as illustrated by SWAT, CSI Crime Lab Services and the major accident team reconstruction task force. Today, Cottonwood Heights has some of the valley’s lowest crime rates, while the CHPD has great response times and some of the highest clearance rates of crimes. The cost for the service is equivalent to what the city would have paid the county for contracted services. As the city continues to grow, the CHPD will rise to meet the needs of its residents. In September of 2015, the CHPD entered into an interlocal agreement with neighboring cities that allows Cottonwood Heights police personnel to render aid for those jurisdictions in case of emergencies. The agreement also allows for aid from those jurisdictions in case of a major event occurring in Cottonwood Heights. You can read the agreement here. Also in September of 2015, the CHPD was the first Utah municipality to enter into an interlocal agreement with other Salt Lake County police agencies to form a task force meant to investigate Officer Involved Critical Incidents (OICI), such as officer-involved shootings, in custody deaths and other investigations involving police officers. You can read that agreement here. You can read the OICI Protocol here.
