Retired police chief says Layton officer was ‘over invasive’


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LAYTON — After watching the extended version of the dash camera video from Amanda Houghton’s July 25th arrest, former Salt Lake City Police Chris Burbank said the actions of the Layton Police officer were “over invasive” and the search was “unnecessary."

Burbank spent nine years as the Chief of Police for Salt Lake City before retiring. He is now the director of law enforcement engagement for the Center for Policing Equity, a non-profit organization. Currently, he travels the U.S. researching use-of-force, racial profiling, interactions, stops, search and seizures, officer attitudes, and bias within police agencies.

“In this case, you see, what you see is clearly an overly invasive search,” Burbank said after viewing the video.

The way the arresting officer searches Houghton in the video is “a technique that was taught 30 years ago in the police academy,” and is “outdated and should not be taught,” Burbank said.

Although he says the Layton officer did act within policy guidelines taught in Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) he is cautious to place blame solely on the officer alone.

“It's contingent upon administrators to set policy, procedure, practice, and training to say 'No, that's not ok,’” Burbank said.

Questioning a segment of the dash camera footage Burbank points out, “They (two Layton officers) had no concern while she was sitting there with her hands free as to what she might have in and around her bra, but now that she's in handcuffs, they were overly concerned about that?”

Burbank went on to say based on the clothing she was wearing, “It's pretty clear that there's nothing significant concealed.”

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Houghton is now planning to sue the officer seen in the video for wrongful arrest and violating her civil rights. She claims the Layton patrol officer “groped” her during the body search.

Layton Police maintain they cannot comment due to pending litigation at this time.

KSL was unable to confirm with Layton officials if the officer has been placed on administrative leave at this time.

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