FARMINGTON—Over the past year, there has been a rise in protests resulting in violence across the country. With that in mind, the Davis County Sheriff’s Office has created the Public Order Unit (POU) to deal with those situations.

“We started the discussion following the summer of civil unrest in Salt Lake and throughout the country,” said Sheriff Kelly V. Sparks. “We decided it would be wise for Davis County law enforcement to be prepared for those events.”

Other agencies may not always be available or they’re helping elsewhere, he said. “We want our officers to be prepared if the need arises.”

The POU is made up of four units with seven man teams from local police departments in the county. “Officers are trained outside of their normal duties,” said Sparks. “They still do whatever they’re doing in their department. It’s not a full-time unit. It’s formed as needed.”

Each department sends from one to four officers to be trained for the unit, he said. “The cities are responsible for their own equipment like a helmet, shield to protect them, etc. To make it easier, the DCSO orders the equipment and purchases it then the cities pay for it through the Sheriff’s Office.”

Participation is optional, said Sparks. “Larger cities have three to five officers and smaller cities might have one. It really depends on the size of the city and what they can accommodate in their operation. A lot of cities are not the size that they can have their own unit.”

Teams start with a 40 hour week long training and monthly after that, he said. “They’ll get the basics then hone their skills appropriately to be in a state of readiness. It’s up to each city to choose who they want to be on the unit and then they come together on team training events.”

Sparks said this will not change any of the rules that cities have for events. “Most have a process for that. Depending on the intelligence we have if a group has the potential of getting out of hand we might be put on alert to respond if need be. It’s a combined effort so cities can reach out to those trained for those tactics.”

The POU is only in Davis County, he said. “The Department of Public Safety handles the state and Salt Lake has had a unit since the Olympics. It’s not a new concept, but when we reached this level of civil discourse we decided we need to be prepared in that way.”

The DCSO sent officers down in response to the riot in Salt Lake City last spring. “We saw the need to have the ability to respond to other situations in an organized, coordinated and prepared way,” he said. “We want the public to realize that the unit is trained to keep peaceful protests peaceful. They’re trained on how to deescalate the situation. That is always our goal. We want to ensure that those who want to protest peacefully can do that without any kind of violence.”