The preparations ahead of Operation Rio Grande — which requires more jail space in Salt Lake County — underwent minute-by-minute changes Thursday as state and county officials negotiated the lead-up to an imminent law enforcement crackdown on the crime-ridden Rio Grande district of downtown Salt Lake City.
Discussions that heated up this week involved Gov. Gary Herbert’s office, the state Department of Corrections, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office and others, while all worked to fit a puzzle into place before the launch of the secretive police operation.
An agreement reached Tuesday between Salt Lake and Utah counties for sharing inmates was called off the same night by state leaders, and a program that treats more than 100 incarcerated drug offenders was briefly on the chopping block before state and county officials agreed treatment shouldn’t be disrupted.