SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced Thursday that she was nominating Brian Redd — the current executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections — to fill the vacant role of Salt Lake City Police Chief.
The announcement comes as the mayor and police department have faced months of pressure from state lawmakers related to the city’s handling of homelessness.
Mendenhall said last week that she had forced Chief Mike Brown to resign as the state’s capital faces an “inflection point about homelessness and cartel-related drug crime.”
In announcing her pick for the department’s new leader, Mendenhall noted that Redd has “worked at the intersection of law enforcement, mental health, addiction and homelessness — issues that cannot be solved by enforcement alone.”
Former chief explains what it takes to lead SLCPD:
“He understands that public safety is built through strong relationships and sustained collaboration,” she continued. “His ability to break through the tangles of bureaucracy, bring the right people to the table and turn plans into action is exactly what Salt Lake City needs in a police chief today.”
Before he took over at the Department of Corrections in 2023, Redd was one of the lead coordinators of Operation Rio Grande, a law enforcement campaign to address homelessness near Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Park.
While the effort was lauded as a success for restoring order to the area, opponents criticized the operation for spending more money on policing and jailing the homeless than on getting them into housing, shelters and services.
Full announcement of Redd's nomination to become SLC police chief:
“Was it perfect? No," Redd said of Operation Rio Grande in an October 2020 interview with FOX 13 News. “But was it a good model to continue to work off of? I believe so.”
Redd indicated Thursday that his approach to addressing homelessness in the city moving forward would be a mix of accountability and compassion.
“We need to enforce the law,” he said. “But we need to do it in a humane and dignified way.”
Redd said he would have four priorities as chief: improving safety, supporting the department’s officers and staff, collaborating with other public safety stakeholders and sparking innovation in the agency’s processes.
Timeline shows events during Mike Brown's tenure as police chief:
Redd, a Monticello native, spent 21 years at the Utah Department of Public Safety, working his way up from state trooper to one of the top-ranking administrators in the agency.
When he took over at the Utah Department of Corrections, Redd had never previously worked in a jail or penitentiary. At the time, the agency was said to be in crisis amid staffing problems at the new billion-dollar prison. At least some of those problems have since subsided due to new hires.
Redd also spent two years at Goldman Sachs as a vice president and manager in its Compliance Division. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Brigham Young University.
The Salt Lake City Council is expected to provide advice and consent on Redd’s appointment at its March 4 meeting. Brown will step down at the end of this month after 33 years with the department, Mendenhall said.
