SALT LAKE CITY — Utah law enforcement is far from diverse. In numbers provided by the Utah Department of Public Safety, FOX 13 News has learned that officers in Utah's police departments, jails and prisons are over 90 percent white.
Utah as a whole is 78 percent white.
The numbers aren’t all-inclusive because Utah Police Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) which is the state body with oversight over law enforcement, does not require police to report ethnicity. They also didn’t start keeping electronic records before 2005, so veteran officers aren’t included. All told. The numbers represent two thirds of all sworn officers in the state.
Utah’s population as a whole is quite a bit more diverse:
Here are the numbers provided to us from Utah DPS including the “unknowns:”
Correctional Officer
| African-American | 14 | 0.57% |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 9 | 0.37% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 51 | 2.07% |
| Hispanic | 94 | 3.82% |
| Unknown | 814 | 33.06% |
| White | 1,480 | 60.11% |
| 2,462 | 100.00% | |
| Law Enforcement Officer | ||
| African-American | 25 | 0.50% |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 14 | 0.28% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 79 | 1.58% |
| Hispanic | 174 | 3.48% |
| Unknown | 1,615 | 32.27% |
| White | 3,097 | 61.89% |
| 5,004 | 100.00% | |
| Law Enforcement/Correctional Officer | ||
| African-American | 2 | 0.21% |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 2 | 0.21% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 11 | 1.14% |
| Hispanic | 29 | 3.01% |
| Unknown | 262 | 27.21% |
| White | 657 | 68.22% |
| 963 | 100.00% | |
| Special Function Officer | ||
| African-American | 1 | 0.26% |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 1 | 0.26% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 12 | 3.17% |
| Hispanic | 20 | 5.29% |
| Unknown | 129 | 34.13% |
| White | 215 | 56.88% |
| 378 | 100.00% |
