Hyde Park and North Logan form police commission

(Left to Right) North Logan Mayor Lloyd Berentzen, North Park Police Chief Kim Hawkes and Hyde Park Mayor Bryan Cox standing together after announcing the creation of the North Park Police Commission. 

LOGAN — Mayors for Hyde Park and North Logan met at the North Park Police Department Wednesday night, formally creating a commission that will make both cities equally responsible now for the police department.

North Park Police Chief Kim Hawkes said for the past 36 years, the police department has served both cities with North Logan controlling the department and Hyde Park being a contracted city.

Hyde Park City Mayor Bryan Cox said for his residents, the commission means they are now equal partners with North Logan in overseeing the law enforcement agency’s operations.

“This is not about mayors or chiefs or the police,” said Cox. “This is about the future of our cities. This is going to be here long after we are gone and it’s a good thing for both cities. We are glad as Hyde Park City our council voted unanimously to enter this agreement and we look forward to this continued relationship with North Logan.”

North Logan City Mayor Lloyd Berentzen said this is a milestone for the police department and he’s excited to see what happens as the two cities work together.

“I really believe that this is the right way to go,” said Berentzen. “I think it gives opportunity not only for our officers and so forth, but it also gives opportunity for us as a community to have our own unique law enforcement community, we have confidence in and that we have pride in. We have some tremendous people who work here and I am really grateful for their efforts. So I salute them.”

Chief Hawkes has been primarily responsible in creating the commission. He said they will meet monthly and begin by looking at some of the police department’s bylaws and personnel policy issues.

“So I’ll be bringing forward some things with body cameras,” said Hawkes. “We have purchased them but we need to feel good about our policy and how we are going to use them and deploy them, and so we’ll be looking at those. The commission will take that active role in looking at our policy and procedures, making recommendations in reference to where we need to go with that.”

The commission could add additional cities and both Chief Hawkes and Mayor Berentzen have asked Smithfield City about joining. So far Hawkes said, they have not expressed an interest.

Mayor Cox will oversee the commission for the first four-years and North Logan City Mayor Lloyd Berentzen will serve as vice chairman. The rest of the commission will be made up of members from both city councils and three citizens from the communities.

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