Utah is seeing an increase in political threats, Department of Public Safety head says

Utah has seen a significant increase in threats against elected officials in the midst of a heated election year, according to the head of the state’s Department of Public Safety.

Between 2021 and 2023, the department investigated an average of 99 threats against elected officials, according to Commissioner Jess Anderson, head of the agency that oversees the Utah Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation. A little more than halfway through 2024, the department has already handled 82 such cases this year, he told KSL.com.

Those numbers reflect only the cases actively investigated by the department, not the total number of threats directed toward officials, which is much higher.

"The increase that we have seen is across the board, both from the governor's office — which also includes the ... lieutenant governor — and members of the Legislature," he said. "I know that we've really seen an increase on members of our Legislature based upon certain pieces of legislation that are run."

Although threats also tend to spike during certain times, such as presidential election years, Anderson said he has seen a general increase in violent rhetoric and threats over the past decade or so. That tracks with national data showing a rise in political violence over the past few years.

Anderson said the response from law enforcement has changed "dramatically" given the increase in threats since he began his career in 1999.

"Just here in the last five years we have our Threat Management Unit, an entire independent team that we've had to establish just to address the concerns that we continue to see," he said. "Whereas, 25 years ago, we didn't even have to worry about that. You would handle a case here and there, but it was nothing near the level of professionalism, the proficiency, the training that these investigators now take."

The FBI field office in Salt Lake City also told KSL in a statement it has investigated increasing numbers of threats, including hoax threats that have wasted resources. The Capitol in Salt Lake City received one such fake bomb threat in January, which officials were quickly able to rule out as a hoax.

"The FBI takes all potential threats seriously and works closely with our law enforcement partners to determine their credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action," the statement says. "When the threats are made as a hoax, it puts innocent people at risk, ties up law enforcement's limited resources, and wastes taxpayer's money."

The specter of political violence was on full display Saturday after a would-be assassin fired at former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania. One rallygoer was killed and two others were injured.

Anderson called it "disturbing" and "unnerving" to see a gunman be able to fire at the former president, and said he expects to see heightened security at the federal and local level for the remainder of the election year, and beyond. He also expects the number of threats to continue to rise this year.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Spencer Cox said the governor always travels with security but was unaware of additional protective measures being taken in light of the attempt on Trump's life.

While the hyper-polarized political climate in the U.S. is likely a major culprit in the rise in threats, Anderson said the growth of the internet and social media may also play a role.

"It's easy to hide behind words that people don't know who are saying, especially what you wouldn't say face to face to somebody," he said, adding that technology has also increased investigators' abilities to track potential threats.

He said anyone caught threatening public officials will be "prosecuted at the fullest extent."

“The thing we take for granted, so much and so often, is that we’re talking about the lives of individuals, these elected officials who are willing to put themselves out there to do a public service, a civic duty, that serves all of us,” Anderson said. “I would hope that (the public) also understands that there is no room for this vitriol and this animosity and this hatred.”