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Tonya Papanikolas ReportingA Sandy City Councilman says UTA isn't pulling its weight in fighting crime at the Sandy TRAX stations. But UTA says they're doing everything they can to decrease crime in their parking lots.
Since the warmer weather hit in the last month, Sandy has seen an increase in vehicle break-ins in the TRAX parking lots. UTA says these types of crimes increase in the summer no matter where you are, but a councilman says UTA should be patrolling more.
Right now both UTA public safety officers and Sandy City patrol TRAX lots. UTA says they patrol up to a few times a day and their officers have stepped up patrols since the increase in activity. Plus, they point out that crime has been steadily decreasing in past years.
In 2002 Sandy's two TRAX stations had 76 car burglaries and thefts. The next year that dropped to 51, then 49. So far this year, we've had 33 incidents. City Councilman Scott Cowdell recognizes the downward trend, but feels UTA isn't doing most of the work.
Scott Cowdell, Sandy City Councilman: "The thing that concerned me is that Sandy city is doing most of the work. Most of the resources are coming out of Sandy city."
Justin Jones, UTA: "We have about 20-25 officers on force. That's small, so that's we rely on our partnerships with the local community."
