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Moab police report full staffing, expanded training and millions of license‑plate reads; illegal camping enforcement increases
Summary
The police chief reported full staffing, enhanced training totals, license‑plate reader metrics in the millions, higher contacts with illegal campers and ongoing work on noise enforcement tied to OHVs.
Lex (identified at the meeting as representing the police department) delivered the police‑department update to the Moab City Council on July 8.
Lex said the department is “full 100% right now” on staffing, though one officer remains in the academy. He said the department exceeded mandated training requirements: the 2023–24 training year requires 40 hours; Moab officers averaged 97.5 hours and some had more than 200 hours.
Lex described work on the department’s firearms range — lead mitigation, road rebuilding and redesign — and credited assistance from public‑works and county crews. He also said the department won a federal ICCR (Institute for Coordinated Community Response) grant and is hosting domestic‑violence training with an expert from Texas.
On technology and enforcement data, Lex gave plate‑reader figures: “In the year that we've had them, we've got 4,853,000 plate reads, 2,800,000 in the last 6 months.” He cautioned those figures describe plate reads, not unique vehicles. He then summarized 2024–2025 incident totals (January 1–June 20): 6,120 total incidents to date, with traffic accounting for more than a third; 2,094 traffic stops; 663 speed‑related citations; 21 DUIs; and 1,560 total citations written so far this year.
Lex said illegal‑camping contacts are up: the department recorded 384 contacts with people camping in places the city does not allow (the department said these were contacts and warnings, not citations), compared with 99 contacts in the prior year. He said many incidents are near parks and along State Route 191, and staff have been offering educational cards and advice on lawful camping locations.
Council members pressed Lex on noise enforcement related to UTVs/side‑by‑sides after public comment. Lex said the department is running speed studies in hot‑spot areas (he noted average speed on Mill Creek was about 25 mph) and that enforcement is complicated by statutory definitions that reclassify certain converted vehicles as regular vehicles rather than OHVs. “It's gonna take some creative thinking,” Lex said, adding the department is pursuing options and has placed speed trailers at problem locations.
Ending
Council members thanked staff and asked for more public communication; Lex said he has already prepared social‑media posts summarizing statistics for public distribution.
