By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
There will be sufficient law enforcement in Mona in the near future.
Juab County Sheriff Doug Anderson and his chief deputy, Al Taylor, met with Mona City Council to discuss law enforcement in the community and what the future has in store.
Greg Newton, Mona mayor, said that the city is prepared to pay $10,000 a year to the sheriff's office for law enforcement providing that they actually see an increase in enforcement.
They had been paying $1,500 per year.
"I have seen more sheriff's trucks in Mona in the last while," said Newton.
Anderson said he has been busy organizing and putting together a plan for what he would like to accomplish.
"I am making some cultural changes," Anderson said.
For one thing, he planned on working in the field and will have a jail commander who is a full-spectrum law enforcement officer.
"We are lean on resources," he said. "I have put in for reserve officers to help us out."
Reserve officers will answer a need and help fill in a gap. They will be full spectrum officers and, though they will be paid, they will not cost as much as a full-time officer because they will not require insurance or other benefits.
They will be getting those from the law enforcement organization they work at full time. Reserve officers will work part time for the sheriff's office.
Currently, Anderson said he is putting together a team to work at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes for the Easter weekend. They need more bodies during that week than he has deputies.
Many law enforcement groups will help with that job, including the Utah Highway Patrol. Reserve officers will also be able to help with enforcement throughout the county and that includes the cities of Mona, Levan and Eureka.
Those cities contract with the sheriff's office for police help and do not have a law enforcement officer of their own.
"The population at the Sand Dunes can exceed our county population," said Taylor. "We can get so consumed out there. We did not want to leave our communities unprotected."
Perhaps, Anderson said, a Nephi City Police officer might show up in his blue uniform to help out but it will still mean that all areas of the county will be covered and protected.
"That means you might be seeing a city officer or a UHP trooper but the different color of the uniform will not matter," Anderson said.
To hire a deputy would cost, for the lowest level of the pay scale, $18,000 to $20,000 per year. Instead, at $15 per hour, he could have reserve officers helping out his deputies.
"Nephi City uses reserve officers," said Anderson.
Such officers can be a big help during special events so that the officers who actually work for his office do not have to be spread so thin.
Statutorily, he is allowed to deputize anyone but he is concerned about deputizing his search and rescue team because there is more of a liability to using the volunteers as officers.
A bad guy doesn't know the difference between a certified officer and a search and rescue team member if they are wearing a uniform, he said.
"It is more cost effective to use a reserve officer who is a full-spectrum officer," said Anderson.
A law enforcement officer is a statewide full-spectrum peace officer with proper certification and authority. A reserve officer is one who is working part-time for an agency other than the one which has hired that officer full-time.
He said that the officers and the different agencies—police, deputies, troopers—will be acting as one for the benefit of the population.
"I think that is a marvelous idea," said Newton.
Taylor said that there had been an accident on Nephi's Main Street involving a semi and a pickup truck towing a travel trailer.
"The agencies worked flawlessly together," said Taylor.
Jeff Smith, council member, said he was glad to know that was the case. He had worked many years in Utah County as an EMT and found that, at times, some agencies went toe-to-toe rather than cooperating.
"We have to bring the agencies together," said Anderson. "We are working together and we are now all eating donuts together."
He said that, in a small county, agencies should work together.
Lt. Bret Pulver, Juab County Sheriff's Office, is going to be working with the Community Emergency Response Teams.
"(Nephi City Police) Chief Mike Morgan started the ALERT (Area Leadership Emergency Response Team) and we want to get joined together," said Anderson.
"Bret Pulver is really enthused about it," said Taylor. "In fact, most of the time he is running so fast you can't see him."
Molli Graham, city council member, asked about the dog problem in Mona and what officers could do to help. She said that the mayor took away the animal control person and she wondered what could be done to deal with animals at large.
"A dog at large is covered by state statute," said Anderson.
Under state law, an "animal at large" means any domesticated animal, whether or not licensed, not under restraint, and a violation of the law is a misdemeanor.
Any peace officer can issue a ticket and can even make arrests for violation of the statute.
"Somebody out here got a ticket recently," said Taylor.
However, said Graham, the city does not have an animal shelter.
Allen Pay, water department superintendent, said that the city had the opportunity to buy into the Nephi animal shelter when it was being built but decided they could not afford it.
Now it would cost $350,000 to build an animal shelter that would meet state standards, said Newton.
Anderson said the only problem that he could see would be the transporting of animals, if Nephi agreed to let Mona become part of the shelter program. There would be the sanitation and transport of the animal the seven miles from Mona to Nephi.
