Please join ACLU Utah, Libertas Institute, and the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for a public forum to discuss the balance between law enforcement and civil liberties. This is a free event, but registration is required.

Confirmed panelists:

Sean Reyes is Attorney General of Utah. Reyes practiced for nearly fourteen years at Parsons Behle & Latimer, the largest law firm in the State. He was honored as the first-ever National Outstanding Young Lawyer by the American Bar Association, a distinction bestowed on one lawyer out of millions nationwide. Reyes has served for over a decade as a small claims judge and spent two years serving on the governing body of the Utah State Bar. He was President of the Utah Minority Bar for which he received state and national honors and served in leadership for the Young Lawyers Division. Sean has lectured at both law schools, presented at numerous legal conferences and mentored countless students. Sim Gill is District Attorney for Salt Lake County. As a veteran prosecutor, Gill has been a champion on issues of therapeutic justice, criminal prosecution and alternatives to prosecution. He has collaborated on the creation and implementation of various therapeutic justice programs including Mental Health Court, Salt Lake City Domestic Violence Court, Misdemeanor Drug Court and the Salt Lake Area Family Justice Center and the newly implemented Early Case Resolution program. These alternatives seek to transition those offenders out of the criminal justice system who can most benefit from other programs—giving them a much greater chance to not re-offend. Jim Tracy is president of the Utah Sheriff's Association and the Utah County Sheriff. Tracy was first hired as a Utah County Deputy Sheriff in 1977. He graduated with Honors as Valedictorian of his Utah Peace Officers Standards Training Law Enforcement Academy. He has had the opportunity to serve in several specialized law enforcement assignments including two years as an Undercover Narcotics Deputy, seventeen years on the Sheriff’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT), and eighteen years on the Bomb Squad serving as both a Hazardous Devices Technician and Bomb Squad Commander. Chris Gebhardt is a 15 year police veteran and two-time multi-jurisdictional SWAT Team Leader in Utah. He started his career in Washington, D.C. working for the Metropolitan Police Department in 1990 where he finished as a Lieutenant. Gebhardt later came to Utah where he continued his law enforcement career. He was part of several SWAT teams in the Salt Lake Valley, starting out as a base operator and through promotions eventually working as a team leader for several different teams, working with many of the SWAT teams in the valley. Kara Dansky is Senior Counsel at the ACLU Center for Justice, which advocates for a transformation of the U.S. criminal justice system. Before joining the ACLU, Dansky spent two years as Senior Advisor and Special Projects Lead at the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, where she advised senior Department leadership on cross-cutting topics such as the National Network of State and Local Fusion Centers, Department use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Border Searches of Electronic Devices, and the Future Attribute Screening Technology.

Panelists will discuss:

• Recent legislation — forcible entry warrants, law enforcement transparency, requiring warrants for to access content or the location of digital devices including cell phones, civil asset forfeiture, and the use of drones by law enforcement.
• Balance — how should we draw a line between law enforcement and civil liberties?
• Police militarization — is it a worrisome trend or much ado about nothing new?
• Future efforts — possible legislation to be introduced in next year's session to further protect liberty and appropriately restrain law enforcement tools and tactics.

Note to attorneys: this event is approved for CLE credit.