We should be proud of the Park City Police Department and The Summit County Sheriff’s office

You’ve probably heard the negative side related to the events leading up the May 3rd security issue at Park City High School. However, you may have missed the good things done by our Park City Police Department and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.

During the last two Friday’s, Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter and Summit County Chief Deputy Frank Smith have attended the School District’s “Office Hours with Dr. Conley.” During the discussion, two interesting facts related to our police forces came up.

First, it’s clear Police Chief Wade Carpenter had few concerns with security at Park City High School on May 3rd. However, he understood that parents would have concerns. So, he directed officers to be stationed at the high school to both alleviate fears parents had and to answer any questions. You have to appreciate someone that not only thinks about his job (to protect our community) but also considers how other people feel and adjusts his actions based on that. It not only served our community in this case, but I can think of a hundred ways that attitude could help our community in the future.

Then there is the Sheriff’s Office. It appears they supported the police by patrolling Park City, since Park City officers would be at the Kearns campus. However, Summit County Sheriff Chief Deputy Frank Smith mentioned something even more impressive during yesterday’s “Office Hours Meeting.” He said that he and the SWAT team were gathered at 3AM on the morning of May 3rd. He said they had little concern about the Kearns Campus, but that when there is so much noise about something like this, the concern is that something may happen somewhere else. They wanted to be ready, just in case. When I tell people this story, they generally say the same thing: “Thank God. If the police were all at the high school, I was worried that my child’s daycare or another elementary school would be the target.” Yep, the Sheriff’s Office showed another instance of thinking outside the box.

So, we can all come to our own conclusion on the missteps the Park City School District took related to the security incident of May 3rd. Those missteps are pretty obvious.

However, those missteps also showed us something good. The Park City Police Department and Summit County Sheriff are both pretty smart and have our backs. For that, we are very lucky.