(KCPW News) Salt Lake City police are responding to complaints from business owners this week by stepping up their patrols in the downtown Central Business District. Sergeant Shawn Josephson says they’ll be looking for things like public intoxication, aggressive panhandling, jaywalking and drug dealing.
“So we are making a concerted effort to go down in this area and to deal with any of these violations and any violations that are going on so that the people who reside down there or work down there feel like they can utilize the streets in a safe manner,” says Josephson.
Josephson says jaywalking is a particular safety concern downtown, with people frequently not using crosswalks or going against the light.
“In the last couple of days we’ve had auto-pedestrian accidents as well as a TRAX train-motorcyle accident, so we’re concerned about their safety, but also when they do that behavior, other people driving in the area may have an accident with each other, may run into somebody because they’re avoiding contact with that individual,” he says.
Josephson says there will be more officers patrolling the area than usual this week.
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