OGDEN, Utah — Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell announced Tuesday that Eric Young will be the city’s next police chief.
Chief Randy Watt is retiring. Young is his deputy chief.
Young is an Ogden native — born and raised in the area, and a graduate of Weber State University.
In many ways, Young will continue where Watt left off. But what will he change?
There are those that have strong feelings that policing needs to change,” he said. “We have been listening, and we’re going to listen even better.”
Young has had a decorated 27-year career in Ogden, earning awards and commendations for bravery, solving crime and launching new programs. He intends to grow the use of technology, and he’s got an independent streak.
“I’m going to make decisions my heart and my mind guide me to make, and they may ruffle some feathers,” he said. “But there’s going to be understanding as to why I made them.”
The city reports that crime is down. Also down — interest in joining the police department. Young says the recruiting class lately is smaller, but it’s an ethnically diverse group with high upside.
“Some really good candidates that are coming to us for the right reason,” he said.
Young is a familiar face for Betty Sawyer, the leader of Ogden’s NAACP.
“I look forward to working with Eric,” she said.
Sawyer tells 2News the NAACP believes Ogden Police could improve relations with minority communities. She’ll push Young to create a citizen review board, and add more diversity to the department’s ranks.
Does she think he’ll listen?
“I believe he will,” she said. “We’re ready to continue the dialogue and even step it up a notch to be able to see some successes for all of us.”
A 50-year resident of Weber County, Young says the difficult year — including the death of Officer Nate Lyday — gave him a newfound appreciation for Ogden.
“I learned how much support and respect this community has for this police department during that time,” he said.
Young is a married father of three daughters. He says living in a home with four girls has taught him a thing or two about communication — a skill he’ll need in his new role.
He’ll be installed in mid-January after a vote of the city council.
Caldwell had high praise for Watt, even becoming emotional as he recounted the outgoing chief’s record.
Watt came out of retirement in January 2017 to take the job, agreeing to serve three years. He ended up serving a fourth year — one that included the death of an officer, widespread anti-police sentiment, multiple natural disasters, and a pandemic.
But Caldwell said violent crime came down 27% under Watt’s leadership, and multiple new policing initiatives received national accolades.
There were lots of smiles in the room during the press conference, but Watt was sober in his remarks, saying that the police profession is under unprecedented attack.