Police aim to curb street racing, noise in Sandy neighborhood

SANDY, Utah — Police were patrolling a parking lot Thursday night where they said they have received increased reports from neighbors of noise disturbances and street racing.

Doug Hilton, who lives in a neighborhood across from the business development on 1300 East near 8000 South, said the problems have been there for years, but they have only increased in recent months.

“Everyone blames it on the pandemic, but I really don’t know,” he shrugged, acknowledging he had called police about issues over the years.

Sandy police Sgt. Clayton Swensen said the department had largely fielded complaints about noise, but also over street racing, fighting and drug use.

Hilton said late on weekend nights it wasn’t uncommon to see a hundred cars or more gathered in the parking lot. Swensen said he had seen larger groups than that dating back to his patrol days.

“You know, it can be a little overwhelming for two, three, four patrol officers to try to tackle an issue like that,” he said. “We’re just planning to, number one, increase our patrols in that area in the hours that we know those groups are congregating there. We also have officers coming in to do extra shifts.”

Swensen said the city was also looking to work with business and property owners in the area to address the issues in ways other than enforcement.

Though Hilton’s home does not immediately border 1300 East, he said the noise late at night can still be an incredible nuisance.

“It’s full noise — it’s kind of hard to sleep,” he said.

He also worried about safety if the street racing persists.

“Somebody’s going to get hit one of these days,” Hilton said. “These guys are going until 11:30, 12 at night. It’s pretty tough.”