When we hear the term “one-percenter,’ most of us probably picture the likes of Tom Cruise, Taylor Swift, Jeff Bezos or Oprah. But way back in 1996 – when law enforcement agencies had many, many people clamoring to join their ranks – a pair of now top-level Taylorsville PD law enforcers were their own kind of one-percenters.

“Brady Cottam and I went through the same police training class in 1996 – and there were about 1,200 applicants all together,” Scott Lloyd said. “In August of that year, Brady and I were two of only 11 people hired by the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department.”

Eleven hired out of 1,200 applicants. That top one percent had nothing to do with income, the way it’s thought of now. But it seems to have had much to do with picking correctly – because both Cottam and Lloyd are still at it.

Back then, they were “rookies.” Now, they have titles. It’s been Taylorsville City Police Chief Brady Cottam for three years now. And, as of late last year, it’s Taylorsville City Police Deputy Chief Scott Lloyd.

“I never wanted to be an administrator; I don’t like driving a desk,” Lloyd said. “I never even had the title ‘sergeant’ until 2021. But Chief Brady and the Mayor spoke with me about it and assured me I would still be able to work on the streets, close to people. So, I accepted (the deputy chief position) and feel good about it.”

“Back when we were first structuring the Taylorsville Police Department, we set up the organizational chart with a chief, two deputy chiefs and two lieutenants; that’s something we always knew we wanted,” Mayor Kristie Overson said. “But we also wanted to take the time to determine what roles each of these people would play. When it came time to fill this deputy chief position, Scott Lloyd was the natural choice. He knows our Taylorsville streets and communities so well.”

When Taylorsville PD first launched on July 1, 2021, it had Cottam as chief, two deputy chiefs and no lieutenants. After one of those deputy chiefs departed, TVPD created two lieutenant positions. Last spring, Lt. Jaren Fowler and Lt. Aaron Cheshire were promoted to those posts.

But Cottam has always favored the command staff structure the agency now finally has.

“I like the idea of having a chief and two deputy chiefs because it allows for different leadership perspectives,” he said. “The department first began operating with a chief, two deputies and 10 sergeants. Now, we have a chief, two deputies, two lieutenants and eight sergeants. We may eventually determine we need another sergeant. But we will operate under this structure for awhile and evaluate how it’s going.”

TVPD has an additional 53 sworn police officers and nine civilian staff members, for a total employee count of 75.

“We are certainly not ‘top heavy’ with department leadership,” Cottam said. “We are as lean as can be. Not in a bad way, our citizens are well served by our department. I just mean we are not wasting money. I would love to sit down with anyone and compare our organizational chart with other cities our size, like Murray or South Jordan. I know we compare very well.”

As for new Deputy Chief Lloyd, he was born and raised in Utah, graduated from Brighton High School in 1986 and always knew he wanted to help people.

“I grew up with four brothers and all five of us earned our Eagle,” he said. “Whenever someone in our neighborhood needed help, I always wanted to assist them. I am the only one in my family who went into law enforcement. I enjoy helping people.”

Lloyd’s public service law enforcement career actually began several years before that 1996 training he underwent with Cottam.

“I went through the Adult Probation and Parole Academy in 1989 and served as a corrections officer in various locations for seven years,” he said. “I am now the longest-serving officer in Taylorsville and have 34 years toward my retirement. I keep trying to tell myself, ‘I may retire in two or three years.’ But I’m in no hurry. I enjoy what I do. I have a good handful of years left in me.”

His decades on the job have had Lloyd filling many different roles. He was a motorcycle traffic officer for five years. He also served on the Metro Gang Unit and was involved for a time educating elementary school kids.

“It was similar to the D.A.R.E. program, but not exactly the same,” Lloyd explained. “I spoke with fifth graders at the nine different Taylorsville elementary schools for six or seven years. I learned how to build trust with kids. Some of them would come running up to me, years later, to say ‘hi.’ I think we had a big impact on those kids.” 

Lloyd also had a big impact on his own two children. After his first wife, their mother, passed away – when his son and daughter were just 7 and 5 years old – Lloyd was a single dad for nine years. He remarried in 2020.

“It was just the three of us for a long time,” Lloyd said. “But they are great kids. They took all kinds of AP classes. They are now both in college.”

Finally, Lloyd says he couldn’t be more pleased with the people he works for, either.

“Brady (Cottam) is great,” he said. “He’s been a street officer, a detective, an investigator. Anything I deal with he has also experienced. He takes the time to get to know everyone in the department. And as for Mayor Overson, you will never find anyone who is more committed. She takes policing to heart. She comes down here often just to say ‘hi’ to us. We are not just a number to her. We are family.”

Among just three people at the top – Cottam, and Lloyd and Deputy Chief Brett Miller – there is roughly a century of law enforcement experience leading the Taylorsville Police Department. λ