SALT LAKE CITY — A recent report from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services shows that from 2014 to 2023, fentanyl deaths rose 1,160% in the state of Utah.
“Over the last few years, fentanyl has become a lot more prevalent in our community,” said Sgt. Miles Southworth with the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Here in Salt Lake City, police say this deadly pill is only becoming more pervasive.
“We’ve been focusing really hard on the Jordan River Parkway Trail over the past several weeks,” Sgt. Southworth said.
Cara Jacklin was excited when she moved to Rose Park a year and a half ago.
“I feel like it had that very small, community feel even though we’re still very close to the city,” said Jacklin.
But her family quickly caught on to this very visible problem.
“Literally just riding our scooters right up onto people on the trail doing drugs,” Jacklin said.
Her two children go to Backman Elementary School, their playgrounds and ballfields backing right up to what they say is a hotspot for users to gather and deals to occur.
“Their friends were out on the playground out here and people have stopped them and asked for lighters or tried to give them drugs,” said Jacklin.
Jacklin says she’s noticed the increased efforts from police of late — including patrols near the school.
“We’ve been doing multiple operations with a lot of specialty units and trying to tackle this from multiple angles,” said Sgt. Southworth.
Those busts have gotten thousands of pills and several people off the street in just the past month. But the problem still persists.
“All these people are on foot so they all scatter — and then, the cops leave and they’re just right back to it,” Jacklin said.
She also feels officers may be spread thin, as she’s made her own calls to report this activity.
“They didn’t ever come — I was there for 45 minutes,” Jacklin said of the time she called to report someone using drugs right out front of a local dollar store.
Police acknowledge they have a long way to go but tell us they want to hear from the community so they can keep working toward making this area cleaner and safer.
“I know this is impacting people in a very personal and real way,” Sgt. Southworth said. “We are trying to help with this issue. If you have any information, please report it to the police.”
