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22 at Salt Lake City PD out of commission after 2 more test positive for virus


Three Salt Lake City Police officers test positive for coronavirus; 22 total department staff out of commission awaiting negative tests. (Photo: KUTV)
Three Salt Lake City Police officers test positive for coronavirus; 22 total department staff out of commission awaiting negative tests. (Photo: KUTV)
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Two more Salt Lake City Police officers have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total up to three.

This has taken 22 members of the department out of rotation and into quarantine, as they monitor symptoms and wait for a negative test. All of these are not necessarily officers, but can be members of administrative staff at the department as well. But, Salt Lake City Police said they have protocols in place to fill the void.

To date, a total of three officers have tested positive. But Detective Greg Wilking said this is a department of more than 600 officers.

The department started a peer support group and a safety team during the pandemic that has helped keep this numbers low. Wilking says officers meet at scenes, rather than ride together. They take remote roll call, and they wear personal protective equipment. He says it’s what’s kept their infections low.

“The reality is, we’re probably going to have more officers (test positive), and it’s going to be an ongoing, ebbing and flowing of numbers and personnel," Wilking said.

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For those going into the station, they’ve split up the command staff into two groups. That limits their exposure to each other.

“The blue team goes in one day; the next day, it’s the gold team going in," Wilking said. “If one group gets sick, we still have another group that is able to function at the building."

And in the station garage, a decontamination area is set up. Wilking broke down the process, saying:

“(Officers) take off their clothes, their personal protective equipment, to disinfect their car. Then they go and shower and take care of themselves."

During the pandemic, they started a peer support and safety team. The team can do their own contact tracing. The department also makes use of body cameras.

“Basically, if we have an officer that has an exposure and comes into contact with more people, we can review their body cam video see if the public’s in any danger, and we can alert those members of the public."

And when patrol officers have to be in quarantine, detectives like Wilking will be on patrol.

“I’ll throw on my vest, I’ll put my radio on, and I’ll start responding to calls," he said.

Overall, he said calls have decreased during the pandemic, which he said has been a small help for the department.

“That, again, limits the exposure, and we’re happy there are fewer victims out there."

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