Governor Leavitt Appointed Bob Flowers Previous to the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Governor Leavitt needed to fill the post of Commissioner of Public Safety. [https://spcoll.li.suu.edu/eadfiles/Xe1kcH8BnM5_0W5sJ69V/ms122NW20001214b.pdf] The person who would fill the position required an existing understanding of the state organizations because the Olympics were quickly approaching. The Governor also needed a strong leader to unite the chiefs and sheriffs associations and the federal agencies with the state because they all needed to work together to make the Olympics, a tremendous security undertaking, successful. Governor Leavitt became aware of Bob Flowers when Flowers was the Police Chief in St. George. The Governor found Flowers enlightened and pleasant, and Flowers had been a Lieutenant and Section Commander with the State Patrol. After only one meeting in Las Vegas and one other telephone interview, Governor Leavitt appointed Bob Flowers as Commissioner of Public Safety. [https://spcoll.li.suu.edu/eadfiles/Xe1kcH8BnM5_0W5sJ69V/ms122NW20010114.pdf] Developing a Statewide Command for the Olympics The bomb incident during the 2000 summer games in Atlanta, Georgia [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/events/1996/olympics/weekly/960805/tragedy.html] had given the world a scare. Utah was determined to avoid any similar incidents during the 2002 games. After speaking to the governor of Georgia, Governor Leavitt determined that one major weakness of the Atlanta games (more…)
