More than 500 High School and College Students Gather with Dozens of Utah Law Enforcement Agencies for Second Annual Find Yourself in Utah Law Enforcement Career Day

SANDY — More than 500 high school and college students and adult job seekers were given an immersive look into what their future career in Utah law enforcement could look like as drones, police vehicles, K-9s, bomb robots, and more filled the POST courtyard at the second annual Find Yourself in Utah Law Enforcement Career Day on Wednesday, Sept. 9. 

The Find Yourself in Utah Law Enforcement Career Day originated as part of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association’s (UCOPA) recruitment and retention campaign, a long-term campaign aimed at increasing entry-level and mid-career recruitment in the law enforcement profession statewide.

In the two years Career Day has been held, over 1,000 people have attended the event, most of them high school students who utilize the event to make early connections with law enforcement officials and explore the fields within law enforcement that may be of interest to them as they seek opportunities in their professional futures. 

For high school and college students, the event is especially prescient. A career as a correctional officer can begin at age 19 and a police officer can be hired at age 21. A number of civilian positions also begin hiring at age 18, providing a solid, stable career path for decades of service.

For other individuals who are actively seeking work, Career Day has proven to be a means for employment. In 2025, Cal Calder attended Career Day simply seeking to learn more about policing, as he was interested in the profession. Now, following one conversation with a participating agency, he is Officer Cal Calder at the Clearfield Police Department. 

“One conversation at this event introduced me to Clearfield PD and ultimately started my career. You never know where that first conversation will take you,”  Calder said. “Find Yourself in Utah connected me with more than an employer. I found a department willing to invest in who I could become.”

In the years Career Day has ran, it has also drawn a combined statewide and national media audience of 1 million viewers between radio, TV, and newspaper coverage and hundreds of thousands of social media views and engagemenets, including both live coverage on the day of the event, and content/interviews in the weeks leading up to the event. 

This year’s event welcomed over 500 job seekers and 24 law enforcement agencies, ranging from municipal police departments, university public safety agencies, Sheriff’s departments, Utah Highway Patrol, and non-sworn civilian positions such as Utah Law Enforcement Administrative professionals. 

Each agency brought different materials to showcase the fact that policing in Utah is more than traffic stops and patrol work. As attendees circled through the courtyard, they saw drone and K-9 demonstrations, various patrol vehicles, SWAT trucks, motorcycles, Utah Highway Patrol’s police helicopter, therapy dogs, bearcats, and more, allowing each individual to see for themselves the opportunities they’d have as a member of law enforcement. 

“I heard one student, sitting on a Utah Highway Patrol motorcycle and learning the controls, be asked by an officer what she wanted to do when she grew up. She said, ‘I want to be a cop on a motorcycle,'” said UCOPA president Chief Brad Bishop. “And that is exactly why we continue to hold events like this. The policing landscape in Utah is so diverse, and especially younger generations are not aware of that. Career Day gives an opportunity for job seekers to actually sit on a motorcycle, ask their questions to an officer, and make sense out of what their futures could look like. It’s extremely valuable to be able to create an opportunity for younger individuals, who will be the job seekers in five years time, to make early connections and piece together exactly what they want to do.”