New interlocal agreement defines how PCPD and Wasatch County work together

St. Regis Deer Valley. Photo: Deer Valley

PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City Council voted Thursday to approve an interlocal agreement between Wasatch County and Park City Municipal Corporation for law enforcement services.

This agreement is meant to clarify how both the Park City Police Department and Wasatch County Sheriff’s office perform law enforcement duties in the Bonanza Flats Conservation Area as well as the St. Regis Deer Valley, which has sat in both Wasatch County and Park City since the Deer Crest Annexation into Park City in 1999.

The interlocal agreement defines how the two agencies will address parking, misdemeanors, and felony offenses, acts as a force multiplier during busy weekends and holidays, and serves to enhance efficiency and ensure mutual aid for both entities.

“We don’t do a lot of interlocal agreements,” Heinrich Deters, Park City trails and open space program manager said. “These are agreements between jurisdictions to make it so that we can work efficiently, and at the end of the day, save tax-payer dollars.”

According to Wade Carpenter, Park City chief of police, this interlocal agreement only makes official the way the two agencies have already been functioning together for some time.

“We really are memorializing what we’ve been doing for a number of years, we have a great working relationship, what this does is really creates this relationship to where it’s formalized.” Carpenter said. “In the past when we were dealing with issues up at the St. Regis, a lot of times there was some differentiation between misdemeanors and felonies. So what we’ve done is on the initial response to St. Regis, Park City will take that as St. Regis both sits in Park City and Wasatch County.”

Depending on the severity of the crime committed at the St. Regis, the Park City Police Department will continue with smaller investigations, but will hand off larger felony investigations off to the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Department.

Additionally, the Park City Police Department will provide enforcement in the Bonanza Flats Conservation Area, while citation and appeals will be subject to the Wasatch County Manager;

“It’s taken us some time to get here and I think it’s been time well spent,” Jared Rigby, Wasatch County sheriff said. “We’ve learned some important lessons and refined the process.”