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The Dax Shane Files

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SLC bike cop and candidate for Summit County Sheriff, Dax Shane, released his personnel discipline file this week in a gesture of transparency…well, he released some of it, that is. Here are the details he did not release.---

On his “Shane for Sheriff” blog, Shane posts a notation of all the disciplinary actions he has received during his tenure as police officer for the Salt Lake City Police Department. While he does list the types of offenses, dates he received them, and the outcome of the discipline hearings, Shane fails to list the substance of these offenses. The incidences below range from a dangerous vehicle pursuit down a one-way road to a questionable search of a juvenile female, where Shane searched the individual’s brassiere for a possible weapon, but chose not to search the girl’s jacket.

City Weekly recently reported on complaints made by various homeless individuals in Salt Lake City who reported petty ticketing by Officer Shane, during his last 5 years working as a bicycle officer in the Pioneer Park precinct. In that story Shane dismissed criticism as being from transients who are “vindictive towards me.” In his recent blog Shane says besides a write-up for cheating on his academic tests and for violating procedures on taking cars home that:

“The other entries on my record are typical fare for a working officer on a big-city police force who has arrested over 900 people this year alone and over 6000 in my eight years of law enforcement. Although there are many arrestees that never complain, occasionally when I arrest crack dealers, some of them don’t like it.”

Below is the full text of each write-up, that includes the supervising officer’s determination of the alleged incidences and reasoning behind the dispensing of discipline, or not. (Shane had not returned comment to CW regarding his discipline history by the time of this post, but we will update if he chooses to comment.)

 The discipline cases below include some very unusual breaks from protocol. In 2004 for example Shane was warned about following incorrect procedure in searching an offender. While transporting a female, juvenile offender to a detention center, a metal detector registered something metal on the individual’s person. Since this could register a knife, Shane was obligated to search the female to find the object.

According to the July 1, 2004 disposition:

“When the alarm sounded indicating the possible presence of a weapon you removed the [juvenile’s] jacket and initiated a search of her brassiere but still did not conduct a thorough search of her jacket.”

Later, the staff at the Juvenile Receiving Center would be the ones to search the jacket and find the knife. The other reports below document a time when Shane pursued a suspect driving the wrong way down a one-way road (600 South) and several other allegations from 2005 when Shane allegedly conducted illegal pat-down frisks and searches on individuals who were jaywalking.

One individual Shane stopped for jaywalking on Oct. 3, 2005 was warned he would be taken to jail for jaywalking when the individual was uncooperative in removing his hands from of his pockets. Shane according to the report told the individual “You are really starting to piss me off” before threatening arrest.

Below is the full discipline file for Dax Shane

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