There’s a new sheriff in town! Okay, not exactly, but there is a new chief in town. The Springdale-Zion Canyon Department of Public Safety – Springdale, Rockville, and Virgin – has a new Chief of Police: Garen Brecke. He’s neither a stranger to the Zion Canyon community nor the department, having been a member for almost eight years. When Kurt Wright decided to retire, the Springdale Town Council promoted him to the top job. Brecke said that Kurt Wright was a great mentor in preparing for the new position.
Brecke has a long record of policing, with over twenty years of experience. Before coming to Springdale, Brecke worked for the St. George police department. Brecke’s previous position as an officer has been filled by a Springdale veteran too. Trent Feltner moved to St. George and made room for Brecke. Now Feltner has come back to Springdale. Brecke said he and Feltner worked together in the St. George police department in jobs like narcotics, gangs, and the SWAT squad.
Brecke said that quite a few things have already changed since he took over, the first thing being that officers now use a new schedule to provide coverage at night. When asked whether an officer would be on duty if a burglary happened at 2:00 am, Brecke said, “There should be, for the most part.” However, he added that due to the fact that there were only four officers, it wasn’t possible to make the Springdale-Zion Canyon Department of Public Safety a full-time police department, but Brecke said that as he was a patrolling chief, he was able to personally cover some of the shifts to help stretch the schedule coverage.
Brecke also said that he was putting a completely open-door policy into effect. Currently, the Springdale police have their own section of the town newsletter, with the telephone numbers of Brecke and all of his officers included in his first newsletter article.
“Our phone numbers are out there,” Brecke said. “We are available all the time to businesses and residents.”
Brecke said that providing public safety for one of the top tourist destinations in the United States has unique challenges. Springdale is very diverse compared to other communities in Washington County. The first challenge is parking, due to the more than 3 million visitors every year. In addition, Springdale police officers have to deal with issues like counterfeit money, credit card fraud and other problems that are usually associated with big cities, not towns with fewer than 600 full-time residents. In line with most big city police departments, Brecke said that Springdale police have worn body cameras for over six months.
Brecke’s said his top priority was the same one that Chief Kurt Wright had for over fifteen years: “To protect the citizens of the towns we serve and to protect the tourists who visit these towns.”
