Audit faults ex-Salt Lake police chief’s ‘poor leadership,’ but he calls it a ‘political attack’

A Salt Lake City police vehicle is pictured on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Kyle Dunphey/Utah News Dispatch)

Top Republican lawmakers critical of the Salt Lake City Police Department under its former chief demanded the city come down harder on crime and homelessness last year. 

Now, with arrests up, stepped-up enforcement on camping and overall crime sticking to a downward trend, some said Tuesday they’re satisfied with the department’s direction under new police Chief Brian Redd.  

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House Speaker Mike Schultz praised Redd’s “great work” and Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s “true leadership.” Nonetheless, Schultz and other members of an audit committee turned their attention to the rearview mirror Tuesday, reviewing findings of an inquiry that blames ex-chief Mike Brown’s leadership for past problems in the state’s largest municipal police force. 

The panel, co-chaired by Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams, deemed the review a priority in a November 2024 meeting, roughly a month before they called on Mendenhall to “restore public confidence, security and safety” to Utah’s capital city.  

The mayor responded by releasing a wide-ranging plan, and Brown announced less than a month later that he intended to retire.

The legislative audit released Tuesday pointed to poor culture and morale that auditors said stemmed from Brown’s “poor leadership.” But Brown, who led the department for 10 years before stepping down in February, called it a “political attack” that “functioned as a vehicle to present a manufactured partisan indictment, not a fair and independent inquiry.”

Brown said in an emailed statement Tuesday that legislative auditors didn’t get in touch with him or ask him to respond to their findings. 

“That deliberate omission is more revealing than any conclusion they have tried to represent as objective,” Brown said.

The auditors wrote that “the previous chief’s inability to make decisions empowered civilian risk-management advisors to effectively lead the department.” They said oversight and planning weren’t priorities, officers were sometimes paid for hours they didn’t work, and administrative leave was “misused.”  

Brown defended his record as chief, saying his leadership delivered “innovative policing strategies, stronger community engagement, and safer streets. Those results are still being felt across the city today and carrying it forward.” 

Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Chief Brian Redd said they’re working closely together on the department’s new vision. They said funding from the Legislature has contributed to pay raises that have helped recruit and retain officers. 

“We’re going to keep working hand in glove as we undo the challenges that this department faced over the years, and the audit has helped provide great clarity for us,” Mendenhall said. 

Redd said his department is staffed “at full strength” and crime has ticked down this year, but with a rise in violent crime he said is driven by cases of rape and sexual assault he believes are being reported by people as they’re booked into jail. 

He said officers paid for hours not worked were disciplined before he started the job in March 2025 and the police department’s changing how officers report their hours, with a new system starting in the first quarter of 2026. 

House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, told the mayor and police chief that “with you leading, I fully trust we’re going to get to where we need to.” Romero noted that apart from her part-time job as a lawmaker, she’s also an employee of the city. 

House Majority Leader Casey Snider, R-Paradise, added, “you have stepped up and it is noticeable.”  

The audit committee also scrutinized the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, the Salt Lake County Jail and the county’s criminal justice system as a whole, with a focus on those committing repeat offenses. 

SLCPD performance audit