In an effort to reach out to the community and provide a space for better understanding, the Provo Police Department held its first ever meeting on Tuesday with the newly-created Civilian Advisory Board. The board was created by the city of Provo to help foster trust between local police and civilians. Those on the board include residents, professors, and representatives of Provo’s Black and Latino communities.
13 fatal police shootings took place in Utah during 2014, causing relations between the police and some of the public to have soured. The 45 such deaths since 2010 account for 15 percent of homicides in that five-year period.
A similar citizen’s board has already been set up with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office and Salt Lake City’s Unified Police.