SLC Police Chief Calls for Investigation of Leak

None by KCPW

Says Leak of Civilian Review Board Findings May Be a Crime

(KCPW News) Earlier this month, information about a case appearing before Salt Lake City's Police Civilian Review Board was leaked to a local newspaper. It dealt with claims of excessive use of force against a 74-year-old Korean War veteran last fall at Liberty Park. The board, apparently, has sustained that claim, and now Police Chief Chris Burbank wants to find the source of the leak:

"We are looking for an independent, outside investigation, and that's kind of what we're looking at at this point - to have somebody outside of law enforcement look at [the leak]" says Burbank. "I'm not here to point the finger at the Civilian Review Board or at my own people. We will investigate everyone involved to determine where this leak may have come from."

Investigating the leak could involve a search of phone records as well as interviews with members of the Civilian Review Board. Burbank says the leak could be a crime, since private information made its way to the Salt Lake Tribune prior to the conclusion of his own investigation into the excessive force claims. The Chief says if he agrees with the Civilian Review Board, he'll take the proper action. However, he says debating every step of the investigation in public is not productive:

"If we start to give out information - okay, we talked to one witness and they said this; well, now we talked to another witness and they said this; officer number two may have said this - it gets ridiculous if we allow this to be debated in the public. And again, they [officers] need to at least be afforded due process rights until the point that it [the internal investigation] is concluded and then it's all public information that can be reviewed."

By statute, the Chief of Police is the only one who can discipline officers. Chief Burbank expects to make his decision in the next week or so. Use the media player below to hear this morning's Midday Metro interview with Chief Burbank.

(Burbank = 16:00)

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