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WEST VALLEY CITY — The Utah Council for Crime Prevention hosted its 17th annual Power of Prevention Conference this week at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley.
The annual convention, billed as a “critical issues conference,” was started in 1998 as a response to the Thurston High School shooting in Springfield, Ore. It continues to provide education and crisis training to community leaders, including police chiefs and PTA presidents.
“We needed to train and bring the community together, because we knew it wouldn’t just stop at Thurston and Columbine,” said council founder Tibby Milne.
Subsequent prevention conferences have canvassed a range of issues, determined by both national relevancy and community need. This week’s training, which concluded Saturday, focused on e-cigarettes, medical marijuana and the use of deadly force by law enforcement.
“We try to bring the national conferences to a Utah audience,” Milne said. “The idea is to bring community members together, identify the issues that they’re most concerned about ... and then design the conference around that.”
Utah’s family focus impacts the structure of the conference, which emphasizes training parents, children and authority figures like educators and police forces.
We try to bring the national conferences to a Utah audience. The idea is to bring community members together, identify the issues that they're most concerned about ... and then design the conference around that.
–Tibby Milne, UT Council for Crime Prevention
Friday's schedule featured a full slate of teen programming, to be conducted while parents received tailored instruction elsewhere.
“We feel we’re right over the target with parents,” said Doug Murakami of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, “Because parents are the number one reason teens choose not to drink.”
Murakami represents the department’s “Parents Empowered” initiative, a joint effort with the Department of Health, the state Legislature, and several other offices and organizations. Murakami spoke to parents about the dangers of underage drinking on Friday in a breakout session called “Becoming an Empowered Parent.”
“We just want to remind parents that alcohol is the number one substance abused by youth. We’ve got to keep our eye on the ball,” Murakami said.
The conference concluded Saturday with “Interfaith Day,” which was free and open to the public. Members of all faiths were invited to attend the day’s sessions on pornography and human trafficking, along with Dr. Bill Beacham’s keynote address, “The Surviving Family.”
An Oxford-trained psychologist, Beachum was scheduled to speak about “helping clergy, spouses and family members deal with depression, anxiety and suicide,” including discussions of warning signs and resources.
“These problems don’t belong to any one church. They belong to all of us,” Milne said. “If we can come together ... It has great value for all churches.”
Allison Oligschlaeger is currently studying English and Arabic at the University of Utah while completing an internship with the Deseret News. Contact her at aoligschlaeger@deseretnews.com.
