SALT LAKE CITY — Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. That’s the mindset of the Salt Lake City Police Department and other law-enforcement agencies on this Election Day.
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One doesn’t typically equate Election Day with law enforcement being on high alert, but in 2020, that’s just the way it is.
Some of the windows are boarded up at Nordstrom and some other stores at City Creek Center in the event there’s any social upheaval or demonstrations.
Putting up barriers is on a case-by-case and store-by-store basis where managers are using an abundance of caution.
Some downtown stores were damaged and vandalized during one of the protests over racial injustice last summer.
The size and scale of the summer’s civil unrest seemed to catch some agencies off guard. Law enforcement does not want that happening again.
“We plan for contingencies, we look at what we think may be the worst case scenario and we plan for that,” said Sgt. Keith Horrocks with SLCPD. “We really hope that that doesn’t happen but we definitely have our plans in place and we’ve been looking at that for several months now.”
The command staff essentially wants all hands on deck in the event there is any kind of trouble, and as a result, FOX 13 has learned that no officers will be able to take leave or time off through Wednesday.