THE UTAH AMICUS

Sim Gill
Candidate for Salt Lake County District Attorney

Sim Gill is a prosecutor. He is the Chief City Prosecutor for Salt Lake City. In front of a diverse and enthusiastic crowd of supporters he announced his candidacy for Salt Lake County District Attorney at the Scott M. Matheson Courthouse.

Sim Gill is a prosecutor, but after listening to Sim's announcement speech I can assure you that he is much more. Sim's fiery speech yesterday left me with the understanding that Sim is a man who understands that our elected leaders need to carry optimism and solutions to the ballet box, not just empty promises and slogans that rely on fear to win elections.

Keep an eye on this race; the message Sim will convey will be one that all Utahns should understand and relate too.

Photo submitted by Cliff Lyon.

Sim Gill Candidate Announcement Speech

I want to thank everyone for coming here today and being a part of this event. I want to especially thank my wife Jamie and our two children Vikram and Anjali.

Let me state why we are all here, I am Sim Gill, I am a Democrat, and I am a candidate for the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office.

I am excited for this race because I have been a prosecutor for over 11 years. I have prosecuted in Layton City, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County District Attorneys both criminal and civil sections, before being named as the Chief City Prosecutor for the largest municipal prosecutors office in the State. I have prosecuted both misdemeanor and felony cases. I was on the arson-fraud unit at the district attorney’s office and have been cross-designated with District attorney’s office while also being the chief city prosecutor. I have prosecuted cases in the areas of sexual exploitation for profit, distribution of pornography, environmental crimes and felony drunk driving. Currently, at the City prosecutor’s office we average 24,000 new filings annually with an active caseload of some 30,000 cases.

I am the chair of the “Safe at Home Coalition” working on domestic violation issues; Vice-chair of the Criminal Justice Advisory Comm. (CJAC) working on a systemic analysis of the criminal issues and challenges facing Salt Lake County, and I was the SWAP representative to the Comm. On Racial and Ethnic Fairness, where in that capacity I did the first ever audit of a prosecutor’s office to determine the treatment of minorities in the criminal justice system.

Thus, I feel that I bring to this candidacy the experience of a line prosecutor, the experience of an administrator of the largest municipal prosecutor office in the State and the experience of policy analyst aware of the issue confronting us in the criminal justice system.

I believe that the objective of the District Attorney’s office is to create safe communities, have institutional integrity, professional competence and provide public service.

The mission of the office thus is to serve our citizens, collaborate with local law enforcement, prosecutors and communities. It must take the lead in creating a consistent, comprehensive, criminal justice philosophy that protects victims, holds offenders accountable and honors the public trust to be fair and just in all of our dealings.

I believe in a simple saying that “when crime happens it causes injuries to victims, offenders and the communities where the crime occurs. Justice then is the repairing of these injuries”. In this purpose we must seek to be proactive agents of change that are willing to think out of the box. However, the solutions that we seek must 1) not compromise on law enforcement objectives 2) not cost us more that the current system and 3) have better outcomes than we are getting now. Thus I am a big advocate of “therapeutic justice” which seeks to transition out of the criminal justice system those who can benefit the most from it. In this regard, I have helped to create MHC, Dui court, Johns Program, Prostitution Outreach, our Domestic Violence Court in SLC, Passages Program, Misdemeanor Drug Court and our public sex crimes program. These programs, hold offenders accountable, are fiscally cheaper, and have better outcomes without compromising on law enforcement objectives.

Take for example, mental health court; while 5% of the general population is mentally ill, in jail some 17% of the individuals suffer from mental illness. These individuals will spend more time in jail costing the taxpayers more money. They are more likely to re-enter at a higher frequency and they will need more trips to emergency care for which we all pay. They require a greater demand of resources from the officers in the field and this population will self medicate with illegal drugs and alcohol. In short, they are one of our most expensive prisoners and offenders.

MHC addresses this problem in a collaborative approach between law enforcement, courts, prosecution, legal defenders, probation, and treatment providers. We medically stabilize the individuals, hook them up with community services, and provide a close supervised and interactive probation from 12-36 months. The result of this type of approach is, the defendant takes responsibility for their conduct, gets the help that they need and reduces the frequency of their criminal re-entry into the criminal justice system. It is often the their first most sustained level of stability. It is a win-win out come for the police, community, victims, courts, prosecution and defenses. It frees jail beds for those who really need to be there. Most importantly it is getting the help to the defendants at a fraction of the cost. This is smart prosecution.

I believe in empowering local communities. This will require partnerships with local law enforcement and local prosecution to help develop targeted plans to address localized concerns. The District Attorney’s office can and must serve as the leadership to address emerging concerns. In some instances the DA will be the organizing entity through its leadership and in other instances it will provide direct support for aggressive prosecution. A coordinated and a shared vision that will target and maximize our efforts is not only smart prosecution but will keep the faith with our local communities that the DA’s office is their office as well.

This idea has been a part of our City’s comprehensive plan. Our Community Action Teams have been in operation for years. These teams based upon the seven districts in the City area a multidisciplinary group of law enforcement, city and county agencies, prosecutors and local government. They collaborate and address issues at the local and grassroots level and help solve community concerns. We have demonstrated this through a 18 month grant where two prosecutors working hand in hand with Cat Teams dramatically reduced the calls for service from law enforcement and saving precious taxpayer dollars.

The District Attorney’s office must also recognize that there are crimes which demand an aggressive prosecution toward incarceration. There are some in our community who through their conduct, and the risk that they pose to our community, must be made to forfeit their liberty. The murders, the rapists, the child molesters and others who would put at risk our families, friends, communities must be dealt with a swift and just punishment. The resources that we would save through our community problem solving and therapeutic justice then would be directed forcefully to these offenders who represent our paradigm cases for aggressive accountability. However, to accomplish this we must have a corps of professional competent attorneys who take pride in their work and have the resources that are necessary for them to accomplish their task. We must have the internal organization that supports their efforts and communicates to them our community’s expectations. Through community collaborations, therapeutic justice and paradigm prosecutions we start to construct a comprehensive criminal justice policy that will protect our communities, be fiscally sound, and hold offenders accountable.

Finally, as we outline the challenges, discuss policy, create collaborations we cannot forget what this about. It is about human lives, impacted in deep and profound ways. Let me share a story with you: Several years ago I was prosecuting a domestic violence case. The victim had been assaulted . . . .


This why I am a prosecutor: This why I do what I do. Sometimes we are the only voice for those who cannot or are unable to speak. We are about justice, we are about fairness, we are about a covenant that we make with each other that in our civil society the weak will be protected and those who harm others cannot and will not escape justice.

If these are things that you believe in then please give me your support as your next district attorney. Thank you.