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Police chief: fentanyl and meth use up as staffing pressures persist
Summary
Police Chief Keldon Brown reported increases in fentanyl and methamphetamine use and seizures, fewer drug arrests linked to task-force staffing gaps, and continuing overtime for outside-agency coverage; he credited the Flock camera system with helping recover stolen vehicles and firearms.
Police Chief Keldon Brown told council members that Pleasant Grove’s police force is facing recruitment and workload challenges while confronting rising drug activity.
Brown said the department has 30 full-time staff and two current vacancies; some candidates are academy recruits without field experience and the city is not seeing a steady stream of lateral applicants. He reported that drug-related calls and overdoses increased in 2025, with seizures that included six pounds of methamphetamine and several thousand fentanyl pills taken from local subjects. He explained arrests fell partly because Pleasant Grove lacked a dedicated officer on the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force for one year.
Brown highlighted technology and reserve staffing as partial mitigations: the Flock camera network aided recovery of stolen vehicles and helped identify suspects, and the reserve program ensures the minimum three-officer patrol is typically maintained. He also said overtime from outside-agency coverage (e.g., BYU, UVU) has doubled, creating compensated opportunities for officers but increasing administrative workload. Council members asked for additional analysis of reserve-program costs and whether those funds would be better used to recruit full-time or lateral hires.
Next steps: staff will return with more detailed staffing-cost comparisons and options for increasing lateral recruitment.
